Religion and Rehabilitation in Colombian and South African Prisons: A Human Flourishing Approach

• Published date: 01 September 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10575677221123249
• Author: Sung Joon Jang,Byron R. Johnson,Matthew Lee Anderson,Karen Booyens
• Date: 01 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Original Articles

Religion and Rehabilitation in

Colombian and South African

Prisons: A Human Flourishing

Approach

Sung Joon Jang

1

, Byron R. Johnson

1

,

Matthew Lee Anderson

1

, and Karen Booyens

2

Abstract

This paper examines whether and how religion contributes to prisoner rehabilitation—conceptualized

as a prosocial change in self-identity, existential belief, and character based on identity theories of crim-

inal desistance, the “Good Lives Model”of offender rehabilitation, and the concept of human f‌lourishing.

For this study, we conducted a quasi-experimental study assessing a faith-based program, “The

Prisoner’sJourney”(TPJ). We hypothesized that participation in TPJ increased religiosity, which in

turn contributed to rehabilitation, measured by identity transformation, a new sense of meaning and

purpose in life, and virtue development. It was also hypothesized that prisoner rehabilitation enhanced

emotional well-being and reduced the risk of interpersonal aggression. To test our hypotheses, we

applied structural equation modeling to analyze data from 506 prisoners in Colombia and South

Africa, who participated in pretest and posttest surveys. As hypothesized, we found that completion

of TPJ increased religiosity, which in turn fostered motivation for identity change, the perception of

meaning and purpose in life, and the virtues of forgiveness, accountability, and self-control. In addition,

the increased perception of meaning and purpose in life and two virtues (forgiveness and self-control)

decreased negative emotions and the risk of interpersonal aggression. The implications and limitations of

our study are discussed.

Keywords

prison, rehabilitation, religion, Colombia, South Africa

Introduction

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) studies of prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 reported

that about two-thirds (67.8%) were rearrested for a new crime within three years, and the rate of

recidivism increased to 76.6% and 83.4% by the end of the f‌ifth and ninth years, respectively

1

Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA

2

Social Work and Criminology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Corresponding Author:

Sung Joon Jang, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA.

Email: Sung_Joon_Jang@baylor.edu

Original Article

International Criminal Justice Review

2023, Vol. 33(3) 225-252

© 2022 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/10575677221123249

journals.sagepub.com/home/icj

(Alper et al., 2018; Durose et al., 2014). The three-year rearrest rate was not much different from the

rates of state prisoners released 11 (67.5%) and 22 years earlier (62.5%) (Beck & Shipley, 1989;

Langan & Levin, 2002), and more than half (56.7%) of the rearrests within f‌ive years of release

occurred in the f‌irst year following release (Durose et al., 2014). In spite of these dismal statistics,

a majority of Americans support rehabilitation as a principal goal of the correctional system

(Cullen, 2013; Cullen et al., 2000).

It would be unfair to place the entire blame for high recidivism rates on correctional facil-

ities. Various factors encountered by prisoners after release play a signif‌icant role in contrib-

uting to elevated rates of reoffending. Nonetheless, correctional institutions often fail to

provide prisoners with suff‌icient access to much needed rehabilitative programming. Indeed,

most American voters (85%) believe that incarceration without effective rehabilitation pro-

grams is counterproductive to public safety (Clarke, 2018). An obvious reason for the

paucity of rehabilitative programs is simply the issue of cost. Spending on rehabilitative pro-

grams is estimated to be, on average, less than 10% of state prison expenditures (Mai &

Subramanian, 2017), which means treatment programs tend to be available only to a small per-

centage of prisoners (e.g., 6% in Florida; see Mahoney, 2019). The current state of limited pro-

grams in support of rehabilitation is unlikely to change in the near future given projected state

budget cuts and def‌icits due to COVID-19’s economic fallout (McNichol & Leachman, 2020;

Pew Research Center, 2020).

In a time of ever-tightening correctional budgets, it is important to note that religion has a rich

and positive history of contributing to the rise of rehabilitation as a philosophical goal going back

to the outset of the American correctional system (Cullen, 2013). The notion that religion contin-

ues to be a rehabilitative change agent is obvious from the sheer number of religiously oriented

rehabilitative resources present within prisons. Faith-based prison programs tend to rely almost

exclusively on volunteers and private resources. The rehabilitative effect of religion on prisoners

has been empirically established (Johnson, 2011), and some researchers have explained how reli-

gion helps rehabilitate prisoners (Hallett et al., 2017; Kerley & Copes, 2009; Maruna et al., 2006).

To contribute to the growing literature on religion and rehabilitation, we conceptualize the salu-

tary effect of religion from a human f‌lourishing perspective (VanderWeele, 2017, 2020;

VanderWeele et al., 2020), applying the “Good Lives Model”of offender rehabilitation and iden-

tity theories of criminal desistance (Giordano et al., 2002, 2007; Jang & Johnson, 2017;

Paternoster & Bushway, 2009; Ward, 2002).

To empirically examine the impact of religion on prisoner rehabilitation, we conducted a

quasi-experiment on an international faith-based program, called “The Prisoner’s Journey,”using

a total sample of 506 prisoners (357 males and 149 females) in Colombia (255; all males) and

South Africa (251; 102 males and 149 females). Conceptualizing rehabilitation as prosocial

changes in self-identity, existential belief, and character, we hypothesized that program-increased

involvement in religion or religiosity contributes to identity transformation, a new sense of

meaning and purpose in life, and virtue development. We also hypothesized that the prosocial

changes improved emotional well-being and reduced the risk of aggression among program partic-

ipants. To test these hypotheses, we applied manifest-variable structural equation modeling to

analyze data from pretest and posttest surveys.

This paper begins with the human f‌lourishing concept and its application to offender rehabil-

itation, followed by a review of prior research on religion and rehabilitation in prison. We then

conceptualize rehabilitation and present hypotheses, after which the faith-based program and our

research contexts (i.e., prisons in Colombia and South Africa) are brief‌ly described. Next, we

explain our research design, sample, measurement, and analytic strategy before reporting our

results and discussing the substantive and practical implications of the f‌indings as well as the

limitations of our study.

226 International Criminal Justice Review 33(3)