“I Don’t Know You No More,and You Don’t Know Me”: Complicated Family Dynamics for Those Formerly Serving Life Sentences

Abstract

This is a study of difficult familial reintegration dynamics for individuals formerly serving LWOP, de facto life, or other lengthy sentences. The Supreme Court decisions of the past decades have provided potential opportunities for freedom to individuals who were sentenced as adolescents to life without the possibility of parole. Additionally, in Louisiana, there was an 8-year period in which individuals serving de facto life sentences were also given a window of opportunity for release. One of the most difficult challenges individuals faced after serving lengthy sentences was trying to reconnect to and reintegrate into families that never expected them to return home. This study uses 92 in-depth life history interviews with individuals formerly serving LWOP or other lengthy sentences to explore the impact of carceral separation on the deterioration of familial relationships.

Keywords

life without parole long-term reentry family and reentry

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