Prison Inmates' Reactions to Furlough

Abstract

Long-term inmates in two Norwegian prisons were inter viewed as they returned from furlough. Major benefits ascribed to furloughs by inmates include restoration of human relation ships and the building of bonds with outsiders, the testing of community acceptance, relief from the strains and discomforts of imprisonment, improvement in mental health, tasting of routine civilian life, renewal of hope and future perspective, opportunity for making practical arrangements for return to the community, and an increase in self-confidence. The principal liabilities of the furlough experience as seen by the inmate relate to the return to prison and the problems of readjustment after return.