Predicting the Future: Incarcerated Women's Views of Reentry Success

Research reveals that most incarcerated adults are optimistic about their chances of success after release and believe they will be less likely to reoffend than other prisoners. Moreover, studies suggest that optimism shapes desistance. This raises the interesting question of how and why female inmates maintain an optimistic outlook about their postrelease. The current study uses in-depth interviews with 26 incarcerated women to assess inductively their perceptions of life after prison and the self-enhancing schemas they draw from in this process. Results highlight the utility of examining incarcerated women's outlook about their future and have import for policy. KEYWORDS: female offendersgender specificoffender reentryoptimismqualitative researchreentry Acknowledgments This project was supported by grant 2008-IJ-CX-0005, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and U.S. Department of Justice. The points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Notes Pseudonyms are used throughout. In all, 323 women were released to parole sentenced by St. Louis City or St. Louis County between June 2004 and December 2005. Of those women, 124 were placed on parole, 31 had been discharged, 11 had absconded, and 57 were incarcerated. Of the 57 women who were currently incarcerated, 52 were housed at the WERDCC. Of incarcerated women who met the sample criteria, 11% refused to take part in the study or were released before the interviews. This problem was rectified by replacing these women with other incarcerated women in the sample population who met the sample criteria. Sampling was purposive in nature. The original study include a sample of incarcerated women and formerly incarcerated women who were matched on race, age, marital status, offense type, and number of prior incarcerations. IRB approval was received to conduct the study and collect official records, such as number of prior incarcerations and current offense type. Although we used grounded theory methodology we did not strictly follow this approach, which requires more theoretical sampling rather than purposive sampling technique. Incarcerated women who initially stated they would not return to prison and then later doubted their postrelease success upon further probing were placed in the uncertain category. Although Lyn discussed the importance of avoiding criminal activity, she did state that upon release from prison, "I'm goin' out there and to smoke' me some weed." When further probed on this issue, she asserted, "I'm not gon' go out there and do hard drugs like crack where it make me sell my body again."