Damned if you do, damned if you don't: How formerly incarcerated men navigate the labor market with prison credentials

Although employment is central to successful reentry, formerly incarcerated people struggle to find work because of criminal stigma, poor education, and sparse work histories. Prison credentials are proposed as one solution to alleviate these challenges by signaling criminal desistance and employabi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCriminology (Beverly Hills) Vol. 60; no. 3; pp. 455 - 479
Main Author Lindsay, Sadé L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Columbus American Society of Criminology 01.08.2022
Subjects
Credentials
Criminal records
Efficacy
Employability
Employment
Employment interviews
Ex-convicts
Imprisonment
Job hunting
Labor market
Low income groups
Men
prison programs
Prisoners
Prisons
Recidivism
Reentry
Search strategies
Signaling
Stigma
Uncertainty
Work histories
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Summary:Although employment is central to successful reentry, formerly incarcerated people struggle to find work because of criminal stigma, poor education, and sparse work histories. Prison credentials are proposed as one solution to alleviate these challenges by signaling criminal desistance and employability. Evidence regarding their efficacy, however, is inconsistent. In this article, I develop a novel explanation—the prison credential dilemma—highlighting the numerous and contradictory ways employers may interpret prison credentials as positive and negative signals. Drawing on 50 qualitative interviews with formerly incarcerated men in Franklin County, Ohio, I examine how the prison credential dilemma and the uncertainty it produces shape their job search strategies and pathways to employment. I find that participants concealed or obscured institutional affiliations of prison credentials on job applications to signal employability rather than their criminal records. In job interviews, however, prison credentials were used to divert conversations away from their criminal record toward skills and criminal desistance via the use of redemptive narratives. Participants also attempted to acquire credentials outside of prison and/or pursued temporary, precarious jobs, aspiring for such physically strenuous and poorly paid work to materialize into stable employment. This study has implications for prison programming as well as policies and practices aiming to improve reentry outcomes.
Bibliography:Thanks to the formerly incarcerated men who shared their experiences with me, the three anonymous reviewers who provided constructive feedback, and the editorial team. The author also acknowledges Mike Vuolo, Ryan D. King, Dana L. Haynie, Naomi Sugie, David Pedulla, Davon Norris, and participants in the Center for Engaged Scholarship and the Law and Society Association's early career scholar workshops for feedback on earlier drafts of this article. This research is supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (2001812), the National Institute of Justice (2020‐R2‐CX‐0021), the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy Dissertation Grant, the Society for the Study of Social Problems Dissertation Fellowship, the Center for Engaged Scholarship Dissertation Fellowship, Ohio State Alumni Grant, and American Society of Criminology’s Division on Corrections and Sentencing Dissertation Grant. The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the respective agencies.
ISSN:0011-1384
1745-9125
DOI:10.1111/1745-9125.12307