People after prison. How prison changes people

Imagine that from year to year you cannot choose who to be with, what to eat and where to go. In such an environment, it is impossible to find love or even build normal human relationships. You are away from family and friends.

This is how prisoners live. They have no other choice but to adapt. This is especially true for those who received a long sentence by a court decision.

The essence of the problem

In a report to the US government on the psychological impact of incarceration, social psychologist Craig Haney candidly stated that few people do not change at all in prison. Based on interviews with hundreds of prisoners, researchers from the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge noted that long-term imprisonment seriously changes people.

Previously in the field of psychology, personality traits were thought to remain largely fixed as a person enters adulthood. But recent research has shown that, in fact, despite relative stability, our habits, thoughts, behaviors, and emotions change significantly, especially in response to the different roles we take on throughout life. Therefore, time spent in confinement will inevitably lead to personality changes.

Those involved in the rehabilitation of former prisoners are concerned that these changes, despite the fact that they help a person survive in prison conditions, are counterproductive for his subsequent life, after release.

The key features of the prison environment that can lead to personality changes are: loss of free choice, lack of privacy, fear, the need to constantly wear a mask of invulnerability and equanimity and follow strict rules.

Psychologists and criminologists recognize that prisoners adapt to their environment. This contributes to a kind of "post-custodial syndrome" when they are released.

The impact of imprisonment on long-term convicts

In Boston, interviews were conducted with 25 former prisoners who had been in prison for a long time - an average of 19 years. Analyzing their stories, the psychologist Liema and the criminologist Kunst revealed that these people do not trust others, they have difficulty interacting with others, and it is difficult for them to make decisions. One 42-year-old ex-prisoner said he still feels and behaves as if he were in prison.

The dominant personality change in such people is the inability to trust others - a kind of constant paranoia.

The results of a study by scientists from the UK

A similar picture was drawn by Susie Halley and her colleagues at the Institute of Criminology from interviews with hundreds of British prisoners. Talking about their condition, the criminals described the process of emotional numbness. People in prison intentionally hide and suppress their emotions, which hardens them. This condition can be characterized as a form of extremely low neuroticism combined with low extraversion and low acceptability. In other words, this is a far from ideal personality model for returning to the outside world.

The impact of short-term imprisonment on personality

To date, all interview studies have involved prisoners who have been in prison for many years. But in February 2018, a document was published that described neuropsychological tests. Their results demonstrate that even short-term imprisonment has an impact on personality. The researchers tested 37 prisoners twice, three months apart. The second test showed a higher impulsiveness and a lower level of attentiveness. These cognitive changes may indicate that their conscientiousness—a trait associated with self-discipline, orderliness, and ambition—has deteriorated.

The researchers believe the changes they observed are likely related to the prison environment, including lack of cognitive problems and loss of autonomy. They believe that this conclusion is extremely important. After all, this may mean that after release, such people will be less able to comply with the laws than before they went to prison.

a glimmer of hope

However, other results offer some hope. The researchers compared individual profiles of inmates with various control groups, including college students and prison guards. They found that although the prisoners showed lower levels of extraversion, openness, and agreement, as would be expected, they actually showed higher levels of conscientiousness, especially orderliness and self-discipline. At the same time, researchers exclude such an option as rigging the results. For example, if the prisoners were trying to make a good impression on the team, while answering questions in the way that seemed right to them. The fact is that the survey was conducted anonymously, and the results were confidential.

What does it say?

The researchers believe that the data obtained reflect a form of positive adaptation of the individual to the situation in prisons. In places not so remote, the rules are very strict, and personal space is limited. Such an environment requires prisoners to maintain order in order to avoid both punishment and negative actions from other criminals. In other words, they have to be conscientious in order not to get in trouble.

Conclusions of Dutch scientists

These conclusions contradict the results of a study by Dutch scientists. Here, the prisoners became more impulsive and less attentive, but they also showed an improvement in their spatial planning abilities, which can be seen as a quality associated with orderliness. Of course, it is possible that the high level of conscientiousness noted among Swedish prisoners is specific to the prison system of this particular country, where more emphasis is placed on the treatment and rehabilitation of criminals than in many other states.

conclusions

At present, there is a clear lack of research to determine what conditions should be provided for prisoners in order to provide them with better socialization after release. The facts now available show that prison life leads to personality changes that can interfere with a person's rehabilitation and reintegration. And to the extent that can become critical.

At the same time, the results of those studies that show the level of conscientiousness and cooperation of prisoners show that hope is not completely lost. They can become the basis for the development of optimal rehabilitation programs.

These are not just abstract problems of concern to scientists. They have far-reaching implications for the development of society. They affect how we will continue to build relationships with those who violate the laws. The evidence currently available suggests that the longer and more severe the prison sentence (in terms of freedom, choice and opportunity to meet family and develop relationships), the more likely it is that the identities of prisoners will be changed in such a way that their reintegration will be extremely difficult. As a result, the former prisoner may soon return to prison again, having committed a new crime.

Ultimately, society may be faced with a choice. We can punish offenders more severely and expose them to the risk of change for the worse, or we can develop rules for sentencing and imprisonment in a way that helps offenders to be rehabilitated and changed for the better.

Hello dear readers of my blog. On air Sasha Bogdanova.

The topic today is not a pleasant one, but we need to talk about it.

I think everyone understands that prison changes people and their future life outside the barbed wire. But what exactly is happening, what is changing, why is it changing, and most importantly, “how to live on?”.

This is what we will talk about today. Including how prison has changed me and my life.

Although I spent some part of my life outside my will, this does not mean that I will now shout that everyone is sitting there for nothing, that all are saints, and our justice puts innocent angels in cages.

No. In no way, I'm not going to defend and justify anyone and everyone. But still I want to say that there are people there too. And after all, no one is safe from prison, so before judging someone, people should look into themselves.

How did this happen to me? Here are some of my thoughts and there is also a link to my story. Of course, not everything is told in it, but there is an answer to the question “how it happened”.

Everything else I will tell on the pages of my blog. What for?" such revelations - I will explain this later. Another thing I want to say is that I am not proud of my past, but I am not ashamed of it either, this is my life.

How prison can cripple the psyche of a perfectly sane person

Of course, if a person ended up in places of detention, then this already indicates that he most likely had problems with his psyche even before what happened. For some reason, he committed a crime.

Is that all?

Unfortunately, it often happens that desperate people end up in prison. So, for example, it was with me. And it is on a personal example that I will draw conclusions and talk about them.

I saw a lot of people there, different ... and probably 95-97% of all those who were imprisoned either come back or live their usual prison life in the wild. And the years spent outside the will are remembered as an adventure, just as they remember yesterday's booze. They get high on what kind of heroes they are.

I don't understand.

environment and fear

Getting to where there is a lot of evil, aggression and dirt around, it is very difficult to remain human. You are constantly under pressure. One careless word or action can make sitting even more unbearable.

For example, I remember when I was locked up for the first time (even before the trial), my cellmates almost threw me out of the cell just because I didn’t know the “rules” for staying “in the hut”.

And how the hell was I supposed to know how and what they “accepted” there? As a result, everything was explained (explained), and then I was already more careful, and no one else found fault with me, and until the first release I sat “normally”.

And it doesn’t matter who is next to you, whether they are murderers or petty thieves, the attitude towards people becomes different even in the wild. You are no longer so trusting, cautious and withdrawn. Of course, this is not about everyone.

Judge not lest you be judged

Not a small role in later life is played by society. Who quietly whispers behind his back, and who says directly in the eye that you are not worthy of their "high society", you are now trash and an object for malicious ridicule.

Once, after my release, I met a friend and he was with such a smirk, “Ha ... Well, how is it in prison?”. I just passed by. And after a while I found out that he was imprisoned.

And guess what I said to him, or rather, what question I asked at a chance meeting after his release? Yes, that's right: "Well, how is it in prison?".

If you are a youngster, then all schools will turn away from you, if you are an adult, then you can not count on a normal job. "Friends" turn away, and from many and relatives.

I will cover all these consequences in the following sections. I'll tell you how to live on when the whole world seems unfair. I will tell you how to help a loved one if trouble has happened to him.

The atmosphere of a prison can break anyone

You get into these walls and your world changes in the first minutes. And not only the outer world, but also the inner one. Consciousness completely refuses to understand what is happening to you.

For example, in such a punishment cell I spent my first day (not counting the previous day at the temporary detention center)

Only the "window" was not so big. In fact, he wasn't there at all. And there was only one shelf. And the walls are exactly the same. Well, the atmosphere ... You should not try to imagine yourself in these terrible four walls.

They put pressure on the psyche of anyone. And if this is a teenager, with a still childish psyche, who got into trouble somewhere and ended up here, then there is a high probability that he will return home embittered by the whole world.

Here you sit, the walls are crushing, thoughts are tormenting, despair and fear of the unknown. You start to hate the whole world. Then yourself. Then the whole world again.

Then you go into the cell and that's it... Your life has changed, whether you like it or not.

Even the racks are the same. Brr.

I friends for today will finish my thoughts. I'd better go and immerse myself in my kids and household chores. This topic has bugged me 🙁

PS/ Why am I sharing my past?

I am a simple person, just like you, he and she... And like any of you, events happen in my life. Different. Maybe similar to yours, maybe not. But the fact that they are all interconnected - you will understand after reading my story.

And I really want to believe that “closing the last page” of my revelations, you will never again say with contempt the words: “yes, she’s a lesbian”, “stay away from her - she was sitting”, “drugs, a clinic, but this is the dregs of society, there is no place for her in our family, we are above this.

I personally experienced this attitude and I will say that it is very unpleasant.

Although I myself have experienced all this for a long time and would not even remember anything, because I have been living a different life for a long time. But when you're reminded (whether by people or echoes)... it's hard to remain silent.

Friends, the main goal is to convey to the “higher” society, i.e. to humanity as a whole, that one should never judge people by their past, even if it was “yesterday”.

And more importantly. I want people to learn not to give up! After all, many break down precisely because they are not understood, stones are thrown at them and they are not considered a person.

No matter what happens, no matter what “g” you have to visit (even if it’s your own fault that you got into this “g”), never give up on yourself! Never stop believing in yourself.

You don't need to prove anything to anyone. Just be yourself and always be human!

In addition, the whole world is not divided into good and bad. Everyone has both a light and a dark side.

What matters is which one you choose. It defines everything. — Joanne Rowling

To be continued...

Video from the project "Live".

How do you like the video?

By the way, look, this is a new life, the life where I am happy!) I did it when my first daughter was born - 9 years ago!

Always with you, Sasha Bogdanova

Prison is a place you don't go to just like that. At least, for the most part, people who find themselves behind bars, first of one degree or another of severity, and then bear a fair (even if they themselves do not think so) punishment for this. But the moral side of the issue - the story is much more complex and much less studied. As opposed to, say, trying to explain how and why prison changes people.

Prison changes people - that's a fact

Limited space, limited social contacts, strict routines and the desire to attract as little attention as possible to oneself - this is what the average prisoner faces. Ultimately, a person who has ended up in prison has no choice but to try to adapt to the conditions on offer.

In a report on the psychological impact of incarceration, social psychologist Craig Haney, who collaborated with Philip Zimbardo on the infamous , notes, "Few people haven't changed or been hurt by prison experiences."

Based on interviews with hundreds of prisoners, researchers at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Criminology went further, saying that long-term imprisonment "changes people to the bone." BBC Future writes about this, referring to the publications of scientists on this topic.

At the same time, the psychology of personality has always believed that the personality of a person - regardless of what circumstances he had to face - remains fixed to a certain extent, if we are talking about an adult and already formed person. However, recent research has shown that, despite relative stability, our way of thinking, patterns of behavior and can change. And especially - in response to the roles that we try on throughout life. Thus, prison, if we are talking not about 30 days, but about a more serious period, will inevitably lead to personal changes as a threatening and inevitable environment.

Psychologists say that the key factors for change in this case will be: loss of freedom of choice, lack of privacy, daily stigma, permanent, the need to wear a mask of invulnerability (to avoid being exploited by others) and strict rules and procedures that cannot be ignored.

What happens to prisoners after prison

It is widely believed among psychologists and forensic scientists that prisoners adapt over time to their environment. This, according to experts, is what causes "adaptation" - a kind of withdrawal syndrome that an ex-prisoner faces when he returns home and does not seem to understand how to live in complete freedom now.

Psychologist Marieke Liema and criminologist Maarten Kunst, speaking with former prisoners who spent at least 19 years in prison, found that each of them developed "institutionalized personality traits", including at least "distrust of attitude towards people, making any interaction difficult” and “difficulty in making decisions”.

One 42-year-old man admitted in these interviews that he continues to live according to prison laws even at large. “I still act like I'm in jail. I think this is because a person is not like a switch or a faucet - and you cannot turn off something with a click. So when you do something for a long period, it gradually becomes a part of you,” he says.

Susie Hulley and her colleagues at the Institute of Criminology painted a similar picture with hundreds of British prisoners interviewed. Speaking of personal changes, that they are no longer what they used to be, the prisoners now and then described the process of “emotional numbness”, when you stop trusting even your own feelings, not to mention.

This is certainly of concern to Halli and her colleagues. “As a long-term prisoner adapts to the imperatives of being incarcerated, he or she becomes more emotionally withdrawn, more self-isolating, more socially withdrawn, and perhaps less well suited to life after release,” the expert says. He added that it is precisely for this reason that many people who have been to prison at least once return there again.

Self-discipline and order as positive factors

But if you had time to think that only 5 or 10 years in prison affect the personality, then this is not entirely true. A 2018 study using neuropsychological tests found that even a short stay in prison has an impact on personality. Study lead author Jesse Meijers and colleagues at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam found that after only three months, prisoners show increased impulsivity and less control over their own lives.

However, other results provide some glimmers of hope. A recent experiment by Swedish scientists, conducted with control groups including college students and guards, found that although prisoners have a low degree of openness and compliance with social norms, as one would expect, they also have a higher level of self-discipline and a stronger striving for order in life.

“The prison environment is very strict in terms of both rules and regulations, and personal space is extremely limited. Such an environment requires prisoners to maintain order in order to avoid both formal punishment and negative actions from other prisoners, which can positively affect life after prison, ”conclude researchers from Kristianstad University (Kristianstad University).

Although the findings in Sweden seem to contradict those of the Dutch scientists, it is important to note that in the Amsterdam Free University experiment, along with greater impulsivity and less attentiveness, prisoners showed a marked improvement in their spatial planning abilities. However, the high conscientiousness found among Swedish prisoners may be specific to their country's prison system, where there is a much greater emphasis on socialization and rehabilitation than in many other countries.

As awareness grows that personality is malleable and changeable, fewer experts deny that the prison environment changes the character of prisoners. But this, the researchers say, may help them better reintegrate back into society. It remains only to understand which methods will be the most effective here.

In Russia, over 600,000 people are serving criminal sentences in colonies. About three hundred thousand Russians are released every year. But not everyone returns to society: problems with documents, work, family, housing prevent many from starting life from scratch. The RIA Novosti correspondent found out how the rehabilitation system works in our country.

Get stuck in yesterday

In 1995, sewing mechanic Alexander Tishkin, a resident of the small, Soviet-era industrial town of Belovo in the Kemerovo region, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for robbery.

“When gangsterism began to rampage in Kuzbass, I worked in a garment factory,” he recalls. “I didn’t receive a salary for ten months. I had no choice but to go into crime in order to get food. I don’t justify myself, but others There were no options available."

He calls the years spent in prison "lost time": when Tishkin was released from prison, the world changed dramatically, and he was a man stuck "in yesterday." But worse than that - Tishkin did not have a real one either.

While he was serving his sentence, his mother sold the apartment in which he was registered to scammers. Six months after his release, the man had to prove that he was a citizen of Russia: "They carefully 'erased' me from that address: as if I had never lived there."

But even after the restoration of his passport, Tishkin faced stigmatization: the professional mechanic and carpenter was denied employment everywhere. The security service of each company checked for a criminal record. Although without documents, looking at him, one could say: he was sitting. “Foolishly, I got tattoos on my arms,” the man says.

At first he lived with his father in a rented apartment, and then his father passed away. So he was left without friends and family, a certain place of residence and work.

“The feeling of loneliness overwhelmed me. But I did not lose heart. My character was formed during the years of imprisonment: I thought about the future for a long time and understood how dangerous it was to lose freedom,” says Tishkin.

Vicious circle

More than 600,000 Russians are serving their sentences in prison, says Alexei Yunoshev, head of the department for the protection of human rights in places of detention at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights. About 300,000 of them are released every year.

Those released are given personal belongings, dry rations and travel documents. The passport can be returned by paying the state duty at Sberbank. But over the years of imprisonment, many people forget their past passport data, and, accordingly, face the problem of restoring identity documents. This makes it difficult to apply for social and medical assistance, the human rights activist claims: among prisoners there is a high percentage of diagnosed serious diseases.

But this is not the biggest difficulty, Yunoshev continues: it is difficult for former prisoners to return to society if their social ties are severed. Starting life from scratch is also not easy: everything depends on numerous refusals to apply for a job. Most of the prisoners receive ranks in working specialties, however, these certificates are always stamped by the Federal Penitentiary Service: show them to the employer - lose the last chances for employment. It often doesn't even reach the interview: many former prisoners do not know how to write a resume and communicate politely on the phone, for example, introducing themselves at the beginning of a conversation.

The unwillingness of society to accept a person who has served a sentence back leads to the fact that the former prisoner relapses in order to return to a more familiar prison system, or finds solace in drugs and alcohol, Yunashev summarizes.

RIA Novosti / Vitaly Ankov

Lost freedom

"I needed to find myself, and I went to travel around Russia," recalls Alexander Tishkin. For ten years of wandering, he visited all major cities. In each of them, he lived in social rehabilitation centers for ex-prisoners: “At any stop, there are advertisements on poles offering help to people “in a difficult situation.” I just got into such a situation,” he says.

Such organizations are created on the personal enthusiasm of people who, as a rule, have experience in prison. There is a successful example of such a center in Kazan - it is headed by Azat Gainutdinov, a member of the Public Chamber of Tatarstan. In the late 90s, Gainudtinov ended up in the Kazan IK-2 for three years and eight months. While there, he saw how people again and again returned to the colony.

“On the day I was released, a workshop foreman named Farid came out with me. I accidentally noticed his eyes. They were the eyes of a lost person. I suddenly realized that he was not at all happy about being released and was visibly nervous,” says Gainutdinov. - Suddenly he asked me: "What to do next? After all, I have nowhere to go at all. "I was struck by the thought: how many people are there that no one is waiting for anywhere after liberation?"

More than 12,500 people are serving sentences in Tatarstan, of which about 4,000 are released every year. But at the same time, correctional institutions are replenished with the same number of prisoners, of which more than 65% are people who receive a term not for the first time, Gaynutdinov says.

The main task of the center is to help the released to return to a full-fledged social life. The organization employs lawyers, psychologists, and there are agreements with municipal districts and representatives of small businesses on the further employment of wards. The maintenance of one person, on average, costs 20 thousand rubles: philanthropists help in financing. Since 2015, almost fifty people have visited the center, and most have been able to find work, and some have started their own business.

Prisoners during the final exams in the evening comprehensive school

RIA Novosti / Vitaly Ankov

"Working with your hands changes consciousness," Stanislav Elagin, director of the St. Petersburg Obukhov Vocational School No. 4, emphasizes in turn. This is the only institution in Russia where prisoners not only receive working specialties, but also study psychology, conflict resolution, the basics of doing business and budget planning while serving their sentences.

“Unfortunately, as one of my acquaintances, the former head of the colony, said, the faster the prisoners degrade, the easier it is to manage them - no one needs smart prisoners,” says Elagin. “But what do they look like after they have been broken? Angry, full of revenge "They make the life of their loved ones hell. Their children, more often boys, absorb the prison subculture. And already with their whole families they are sent to the zone."

According to Yelagin, the very opportunity to show their talents and gain recognition changes the psychology of prisoners: “When two of our prisoners received certificates from fashion designer Vyacheslav Zaitsev for winning the contest “You can’t forbid beautiful sewing,” suddenly the entire colony - more than a thousand people - began to applaud. perceived their award as a personal recognition, their self-esteem has grown."

The best works are shown to the parents of the pupils, and they begin to be proud of the children, the director of the school continues. The former prisoners themselves are also aware of the importance of education: for example, one of the graduates thanked the institution for its computer skills: “I am not a prisoner for my children, but an authority, it is worth a lot,” he admitted to Yelagin.

Correctional colony in Primorsky Krai
RIA Novosti / Vitaly Ankov

"Dedicated to God"

Alexander Tishkin visited no less than six rehabilitation centers, until, finally, in 2015, he ended up in the Voronezh "Nazarene" (translated from Hebrew - "dedicated to God", ed.), which has been led by a Lutheran pastor for almost twenty years. Church of St. Mary Magdalene Anatoly Malakhov. Malakhov decided to help the prisoners while he was serving his sentence.

The center consists of several apartments, up to thirty guests. In total, up to a hundred people pass the program a year. They are constantly busy: they produce tiles, steps, fireplaces and even icons. In 2009, Malakhov opened a sturgeon farm: an abandoned cowshed in the village of Yamnoye was rebuilt for it - pools appeared instead of stalls, in which they began to grow fish rare for the region. The partner of the center is the state: these are the police, the Federal Penitentiary Service, the migration service, doctors.

“Nazaree has a fundamentally different approach to rehabilitators compared to other centers,” says Tishkin. “Usually they do only the work they are given. Everything is scheduled, done for the person. And this does not give freedom of choice, does not teach independence. Here I was given a job to my heart's content: I started with the garment industry and was able to restore my skills."

Gradually, Tishkin came to his own production of wood products. He started small: he found a palette in the yard, selected alder boards from it and made a frame for a photograph. On sale from her, he was able to buy sandpaper, and later - power tools. Now Tishkin makes caskets, kitchen sets, shelves for the home iconostasis with his own hands - which is enough for the customer's imagination.

“In the center, I realized that I needed this wide world, that creating for others means getting even more than I gave,” continues the former prisoner. “People believe that a person remains a criminal after prison. It really changes, but for everyone there will be conclusions. In order to avoid relapses, you need to be a little kinder to each other, and convey that a person can be useful to others. And then, sooner or later, he will become better."

Being in prison radically changes the psychology, character and outlook of a person. These changes are most often not for the better, even if a person becomes morally stronger. Solitary confinement, in general, can lead to insanity. After five years of imprisonment, irreversible changes occur in the psyche, the individuality of the personality is lost, a person takes the prison attitudes as his own, and these attitudes sit very tightly.

Most repeat offenders have an unconscious need to get caught in order to go back to prison. In the wild, they are unusual, changeable, it is not clear how to behave and where to go next. Perhaps a certain status and authority was earned in prison, which was given with difficulty. At liberty, this status does not mean anything, society imposes the stigma of a former convict. Outwardly, people who have been in prison also change: they often have a cold prickly look, many return with broken teeth and broken internal organs.

Psychological changes of prison workers

The psyche of correctional workers is also deformed. Notable is the famous Stanford prison experiment, which was conducted by American psychologists in the seventies of the last century. In a conditional prison, which was equipped in the corridor of the university, volunteers played the roles of guards. They quickly got into their roles, and already on the second day of the experiment, dangerous conflicts began between the prisoners and the guards. A third of the guards showed sadistic tendencies. Due to the severe shock, two prisoners had to be withdrawn from the experiment ahead of time, many had an emotional breakdown. The experiment was completed ahead of time. This experiment proved that the situation affects a person much more than his personal attitudes and upbringing.

Prison guards quickly become rude, tough, domineering, at the same time they experience enormous psychological stress and nervous stress.

Correctional workers often adopt the habits of prisoners: jargon, musical preferences. They lose initiative, lose the ability to empathize, irritability, conflict, and callousness increase. The extreme form of such mental deformation is assault, insults, rudeness, sadism of prison guards.