An Examination of the Impact of Formerly Incarcerated Persons Helping Others

1. An Examination of the Impact of Formerly Incarcerated Persons Helping Others Thomas P. LeBel University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Paper Presented at the Prisoner Reentry Institute Occasional Series on Reentry Research John Jay College of Criminal Justice April 18, 2008

2. Interest in a Career Helping Others Among Formerly Incarcerated Persons • “Most of the program staff themselves, often the directors, are ex-convicts….This type of career is very popular among prisoners and ex-prisoners. When I have asked prisoners what they would like to do in the future, many say they want a job counseling other people, usually young people.” (Irwin, 2005, p. 178).

3. Theory and Research About Benefits of Helping Others • Helper therapy principle (Riessman, 1965, 1990) • Wounded healers (White, 2000) • Retroflexive reformation (Cressey, 1955, 1965) • The professional ex- (Brown, 1991) • Desistance from crime (Maruna, 2001)

4. Helper Therapy Principle • Calls attention to the benefits the ”helper receives from being in the helper role” (Riessman, 1965, p. 32). • Reinforcement of personal learning • Social approval and acceptance • Sense of meaning, purpose, and accomplishment • Improved self-esteem and self-worth • Better treatment outcomes

5. Wounded Healers (White, 2000) • Persons in recovery from substance use helping others • Assets: • Personal experience • Emotional identification (kinship) • Absence of condescension and contempt • A zeal (calling) to heal others • Ability to use own stories to incite hope • A willingness to be more directive • The capacity to serve as a role model • Mutual aid societies

6. Retroflexive Reformation • Social psychological foundations for using criminals in the rehabilitation of criminals (Cressey, 1955, 1965). • “A group in which criminal A joins with some non-criminals to change criminal B is probably most effective in changing criminal A, not B. In order to change criminal B, criminal A must necessarily share the values of the anti-criminal members” (Cressey, 1955, p. 119).

7. The Professional Ex- • It is important to consider how one might “adopt a legitimate career premised upon an identity that embraces one’s deviant history” (Brown, 1991, p. 220). • “Professional ex-s” are individuals who have “exited their deviant careers by replacing them with occupations in professional counseling” (Brown, 1991, p. 219). • For the study discussed today: • Several staff members stated that “this is the only job where my criminal record is viewed as an asset.”

8. Helping Others and Desistance from Crime • Individuals “going straight” are significantly more care-oriented, other-centered and focused on promoting the next generation (Maruna, 2001). • “The desisting self-narrative frequently involves reworking a delinquent history into a source of wisdom to be drawn from while acting as a drug counselor, youth worker, community volunteer, or mutual-help group member” (Maruna, 2001, p. 117).

9. Research Questions • 1) To what degree do formerly incarcerated persons think of themselves as helpers/wounded healers? • 2) What factors might account for any differences in the helper orientation? • 3) Is thinking of oneself as a helper related to well-being and criminality? • How do staff differ from program participants?

10. Sample and Data Collection • Sample (N = 228) • Formerly incarcerated persons in NYC and Upstate NY • Men and women • Participants in 6 reintegration programs • Data collection • Part of larger study of perceptions of and responses to stigma • Self-administered questionnaire • “Closed-ended” questions – Likert scales

11. Organizations Where Participants were Recruited • Father Peter Young’s Housing, Industry, and Treatment Network (PYHIT) • The Fortune Society • Exodus Transitional Community (ETC) • The Women’s Prison Association (WPA) • The Osborne Association • The Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) • The Syracuse Recovery Community Service Program (SRCSP)

12. Select Sample Characteristics

13. Measuring the Helper Orientation • I often share my past experiences to help others avoid making the same mistakes I made. • I am a good role model for other former prisoners who are trying to go straight.

14. Measuring the Helper Orientation (cont.) • I act as a mentor of sorts for prisoners and former prisoners that need help to get back on their feet. • I plan to pursue (or am currently pursuing) a career where I can give back and help other people such as former prisoners, youth in trouble with the law, or people with drug/alcohol addictions.

15. Plan to Pursue Career Helping Others

16. The Helper/Wounded Healer Orientation Scale

17. Factors Related to the Helper Orientation? • Demographics – • Age, gender, race/ethnicity • Social bonds – • Family and friends, education, full-time job, remorse • Criminal history – • time served, # felony convictions, violent felony conviction, supervision status • Program - voluntarily attend, time involved • Group identification • Perceptions of stigma (personal) • Normalization of prison experience in neighborhood where grew up

18. Correlates of Helper Orientation

19. Regression Analysis Explaining the Helper Orientation

20. Importance of Helper Orientation? • Criminality • Criminal attitude • Recidivism • Forecast of rearrest in next 3 years • Well-being • Satisfaction with life • Self-esteem

21. Correlations Between Helper Orientation and Outcomes

22. Regression Analyses Explaining Well-being

23. Regression Analyses Explaining Criminality

24. Formerly Incarcerated Persons as Program Staff • 29 completed questionnaire • Age: Mean = 42.59 • Gender • 18 male, 11 female • Race/ethnicity • 15 Black, non-Latino, 12 Latino, 2 White, non-Latino • Time served: Mean = 119 months • Violent felony conviction (lifetime): 50% • Supervision status (none): 69%

25. Comparison of Staff and Program Participants

26. Summary of Findings • Many formerly incarcerated persons strongly endorse the helper orientation • Helpers are remorseful, identify strongly with others, are not under supervision, and are Black, non-Latino • Helping helps the helper • Positive relationship with well-being • Negative relationship with criminality • Findings especially strong for staff

27. Research Implications • Document the growing role of formerly incarcerated persons as helpers, wounded healers and professional ex-s • Learn more about mutual-help groups and mentoring among formerly incarcerated persons • Study the effectiveness of mutual-help for both the helpers and recipients of help

28. Policy Implications • The helper orientation transforms formerly incarcerated persons from being part of “the problem” into part of “the solution” as they give back • Devise ways of creating more helpers • Make opportunities to engage in mutual-help more widely available • Provide aid and support to promote the completion of certification programs and college degrees

29. Lifers Public Safety Steering Committee at Graterford, PA • “One ensures change by assisting in the efforts to change others” (2004, p. 60) • “Society should begin to use the experience, knowledge, insight, and expertise of transformed ex-offenders to do the work that members of the community and those in positions of authority are not equipped to do” (2004, p. 65).