After Release: A Qualitative Investigation into the Financial Lives of Previously Incarcerated Individuals

ABSTRACT

Research related to post release of previously incarcerated individuals has long focused on recidivism, post-incarceration employment, education, family support, and substance abuse treatment. One area that has not been well explored in postrelease inquiry is how financial knowledge and behavior shape the previously incarcerated individual as they reintegrate into society. This qualitative study explored the research question, “What are post incarcerated individuals’ experiences of self-identified financial behavior change?” Content analyses were conducted with the interviews of 42 previously incarcerated individuals, discussing their financial attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors: budgeting, spending choices, and savings. The findings of this study include a presence of family influence, perceptions of financial behavior change, confusion regarding banking and credit, and a general lack of financial knowledge among respondents.

KEYWORDS:

• Community corrections
• reentry/reintegration
• relationships
• theory
• recidivism

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the men and women who were serving time in the GA Dept. of Corrections Transitional Centers in July to November 2015 and who participated in the research projects. The authors offer their sincerest appreciation and thanks to Tommy Fountain, transitional center coordinator for the GA Department of Corrections, for allowing the primary author to collect data and interact with the men and women of the Georgia Transitional Centers.

Funding

This project would not have been possible without assistance from the Cary M. Maguire Fellowship in Applied Ethics from The American College.