Taking back a justice-impacted identity: From person with a legal conviction to professor ex

Abstract

Millions of people walk the streets of the United States and internationally while enduring the seemingly permanent punishment and stigma of criminal convictions. This study explores how a group of formerly incarcerated academics stood up to this system of oppression, and embraced their backgrounds while working toward social justice for fellow system-affected people. In this study, we examine why many formerly incarcerated people have chosen to mentor each other and turn much of their stigmatized carceral lived experiences into an asset through higher education, and have succeeded in the field of academia. This has been labeled as the professor ex process, a pathway defined by the dynamics of a supportive academic mentorship network, the de-stigmatizing effects of higher education credentials, and the navigation of the enduring stigma of criminal records within academic careers. This is part of an expanding movement of system-contacted people who, having engaged with higher education, are determined to help their oppressed peers through activist scholarship, activism, and advocacy in the context of the system-affected academic movement. This research found that within the professor ex process: (1) individuals changed their lifestyles to align with educational pursuits during and/or after incarceration; (2) the majority embraced their stigmatized pasts (though in different ways); and (3) most shifted toward more critical perceptions and framings of prison after higher education.