On the Outside

From Lengthy Imprisonment to Lasting Freedom

By Melissa Munn & Chris Bruckert
Categories: Law & Legal Studies, Law & Society, Social Sciences, Sociology, Criminology
Series: Law and Society
Publisher: UBC Press
Hardcover : 9780774825368, 240 pages, June 2013
Paperback : 9780774825375, 240 pages, January 2014
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774825382, 240 pages, May 2013

Table of contents

1 Telling Tales: State Talk, Con Talk, and Back Talk

2 Introducing the Men

Part 1: Inside Out

3 Being In: Negotiating Prison

4 Getting Out: Finding a Way to the Street

5 Starting Out: Halfway There

Part 2: Outside In

6 Negotiating "Freedom": Echoes and Reverberations

7 Identity: Fractured and Fragmented Selves

8 Stigma: Negative Expectations and Amazing Reversals

9 Home and Homelessness: Being In and Out of Place

10 Work and Finance: Navigating the New Economy

11 Interactions: Etiquette, Intimacy, and Fitting In

Final Thoughts: Understanding Life outside “the Rabbit Hole”

Epilogue

Appendix: Methodological Considerations

Notes

References

Index

This riveting look at life after prison puts a human face on those who are all too often defined by their crimes, even after their sentences have been served.

Description

From the passage of Bill C-10, with its punitive, tough-on-crime provisions, to sensationalist media accounts of dangerous ex-convicts, it is no wonder that Canada is perceived as a country increasingly taking a hard line on crime. In reality, the vast majority of prisoners who serve out their sentences will never see the inside of a prison cell again. On the Outside explores the post-carceral lives of men who have successfully resettled into the community after serving at least a decade in Canada’s penitentiaries. Exploring the transition from imprisonment to the challenges of resettlement, this book will change the way you think about prisoners and open up the discussion on the perils of tough-on-crime legislation.