Invisible Stripes? Formerly Incarcerated Persons' Perceptions of Stigma

Abstract

A social psychological approach is used to examine stigma from the perspective of formerly incarcerated persons. Three scales were constructed to assess 229 formerly incarcerated persons' perceptions of stigma toward former prisoners as a group, themselves personally, and actual rejection experiences. Results indicate that perceiving more stigma is related to having multiple parole violations, identifying more strongly with other former prisoners, growing up in a neighborhood where going to prison is more normative, having weaker social bonds to family and friends, and a person's race/ethnicity (white, non-Latino). Implications for formerly incarcerated persons and the need for additional research about stigma are discussed.

Notes

¹In nearly every recruitment session, some people had never before been incarcerated in prison. Although nearly everyone chose to complete the questionnaire, due to the anonymous nature of this study it was impossible to learn the reasons why a person decided not to participate. Importantly, more people completed the questionnaire than was warranted. That is, about 60 individuals who never served time in prison (but may have served time in a county jail) completed the survey. The responses from these 60 individuals were not included in this study.

²The IRB required that consent forms not be collected from participants.

³The mean substitution method is used to account for missing data (Cohen et al. 2003). A missing-data dummy variable is included in each of the OLS regression equations.

⁴The exact wording for items in the scales may be obtained from the author.

⁵Persons with a violent felony might also have property, drug, and/or other offenses. Respondents were not asked specifically about sex offenses. Moreover, only 4.3 percent of first releasees in 2003 were convicted of a sex offense (NYSDOCS 2004).

SD = standard deviation.

The indicators for perceptions of stigma are scored using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree.

The unstandardized coefficients and standard errors (in parentheses) are shown. Results are for regression equations with outliers removed: group stigma (n = 226), personal stigma (n = 226), actual rejection experiences in lifetime (n = 223). Mean substitution is used for missing data. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thomas P. LeBel

THOMAS P. LEBEL , Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. His research interests include prisoner reintegration, desistance from crime, the stigma of incarceration, and substance abuse treatment.