The Perspective of Young Prisoners on their Occupations

Abstract

The repressive and overcrowded conditions in Canada's prisons are at odds with their objective of reintegrating inmates into society, and inmates' entitlement to services that improve their well-being and their future. The purpose of this paper is to present the perspective of eight young prisoners, in a provincial prison, on their occupations before and during their incarceration, and those they will consider after release. Their views were gathered via individual interviews, which were transcribed and thematically analyzed. The analysis showed that before incarceration the young men were involved in occupations that met their need for diversity, risk, personal direction, social acceptance and money. During the detention period, they were substantially occupationally deprived, if not in occupational quest or “occupational outlet”. Most of them had very vague plans for their future or saw themselves in situations similar to the illegal or criminal occupations in their past. The findings have implications for practice and further study.

Keywords:

• Prison
• Youth
• Meaningful occupation
• Deprivation
• Re-integration
• Occupational justice

Acknowledgment

The authors want to thank the prisoners for their generosity, the staff of the prison and the Department of Public Safety for their openness. Also, they thank the Research Funds of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières for the financial support.