Gendered Prison and Reentry Experiences: Perspectives From Rural People on Parole

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/15570851231181631
• Author: Ruben Oroz,Susan Dewey,Brittany VandeBerg,Elisha Longoria
• Date: 01 October 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Feminist Criminology

2023, Vol. 18(4) 302–324

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/15570851231181631

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Gendered Prison and Reentry

Experiences: Perspectives

From Rural People on Parole

Ruben Oroz

1

, Susan Dewey

1

, Brittany VandeBerg

1

, and

Elisha Longoria

1

Abstract

The present study unites and builds on existing research about gendered reentry

experiences and gender-responsive approaches in prison through its analysis of 74 in-

depth, semi-structured interviews with people on parole. Taking a gender-responsive

approach, the project’s twofold research question asked how rural people concep-

tualized men’s and women’s prisons as gendered institutions and the various ways in

which they understand their individual experiences in prison as gendered. Analysis

resulted in three primary themes: [1] structural and institutional gender discrimination;

[2] solidarity as supportive for women versus solidarity as protective for men; and [3]

emotional regulation in peer relationships. Taken together, our f‌indings add nuance to

understandings of the profound impact of gender on incarceration and reentry and

offer support for the expansion of gender-responsive approaches to both men’s and

women’s institutions.

Keywords

gender studies, gendered reentry experiences, gender-responsive approaches, gender

discrimination, qualitative research, incarceration, reentry, rehabilitation, prison

climate

1

The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Susan Deway, The University of Alabama, Farrah Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL 35475, USA.

Email: scdewey@ua.edu

The realities of mass incarceration directly impact reentry experiences for people

returning to rural areas of the United States, where they face considerable reentry

challenges including limited housing, employment, and transportation (Bowman &

Ely, 2020;Norberg et al., 2021), lack of affordable and reliable childcare (Cabeldue

et al., 2018), restricted social privacy that heightens public awareness and stigmati-

zation of their crimes (Huebner et al., 2019), and limited substance use and mental

health treatment services (Webster et al., 2015). The United States incarcerates almost

1.8 million people in prisons and jails, and every year more than 600,000 people are

released from prison and nine million from jail (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2021).

Depending on the jurisdiction, between 70 and 83% of these formerly incarcerated

people will recidivate in three to 9 years (Alper & Durose, 2018).

Understanding the nuances of quotidian life before and after prison, which con-

tribute to such high reincarceration rates, requires f‌ine-grained analysis of how in-

dividuals experience and understand the social forces that shape the world around them.

The present study accordingly takes gender—one of the most powerful forces gov-

erning social life—as its target with a twofold focus on how our participants con-

ceptualized men’s and women’s prisons as gendered institutions and the various ways

in which they understand their individual experiences in prison as gendered. This is

particularly relevant for people on parole in rural areas, where gender norms tend to be

more rigidly structured and reinforced than in metropolitan areas (Smith, 2017) and the

restricted social privacy of small-town life can exercise powerful social control over

those who deviate from these norms. Our twofold focus accordingly emphasizes the

value of implementing gender-responsive approaches for rural men and women in

prison as a means to help mitigate the challenges of reentry, and better support the

reentry process, into gender-rigid rural areas.

Analysis presented here unites and builds on literature about gendered reentry

experiences and gender-responsive approaches in prison through analysis of 74 in-

depth, semi-structured interviews with rural men (n= 46) and women (n= 28) on

parole. Our analysis identif‌ied three primary themes with respect to how our partic-

ipants understood their experiences in prison as gendered: structural and institutional

gender discrimination, solidarity as supportive for women versus solidarity as pro-

tective for men, and emotional regulation in peer relationships. The results of our

analysis demand a reconceptualization of how gender-responsive approaches might

become more gender-inclusive in order to better meet the needs of all incarcerated

people. In so doing, we offer a contribution to how the success gender responsive

approaches have enjoyed with incarcerated women could be expanded to all incar-

cerated people and those under parole supervision.

Literature Review

The theoretical framework guiding the present study combines scholarly work on

gender-responsive approaches with research about rural reentry challenges. Combining

these two otherwise disparate bodies of literature offers a fresh perspective on the

Oroz et al. 303