‘Mobilizing’ prisoner reentry research: Halfway houses and the spatial-temporal dynamics of prison release

Abstract

To date, prisoner reentry has been treated as a generic process—that is, people ‘reenter,’ without much specification regarding when and/or where this ‘reentry’ occurs. Drawing on in-depth interviews with halfway house residents in a north-western Canadian city, this article seeks to unpack the concept of prisoner reentry by exploring its spatial-temporal dimensions. I conceptualize prisoner reentry as a temporally fragmented sometimes piecemeal process that occurs across time as well as different locales, including neighbourhoods, cities, and sometimes even provinces. I do this by analyzing reentry through the lens of mobilities. Specifically, I argue that reentry via halfway houses produces mobilities that are experienced by former prisoners as simultaneously disciplining and productive of their future. In this context, I highlight the importance of paying attention to ex-prisoners’ conceptions of their future, including when and where they imagine that they will enact different aspects of their reintegration.