We reconceptualise the experience of people with sexual convictions leaving prison, as being in, but not of, the community. Release from prison can be characterised as falling into a necropolitical abyss, which entails extreme social exclusion. Via our interview data we extend current understanding on this transition, as we newly theorise the severity of the cliff-face drop, the post-prison precarity and the deathworld experience. Escape from the deathworld is attempted through performance, via what we term a life mask. Embracing the work of Agamben, Butler, Mbembe and Goffman we explore this substitute stigmatised identity performance. We evaluate the ontological (in)security for persons with sexual convictions. Novelty also lies in the form of positivity ascribed to imprisonment as, although prison is recognised as a terrible place, it nonetheless does facilitate security and a social life.
AgambenG (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.
2.
AllenderPBrownGBaileN, et al. (2005) Prisoner Resettlement and Housing Provision: A Good Practice Ideas Guide. Coventry: Centre for Social Justice, Coventry University.
3.
BowlbySGregorySMcKieL (1997) ‘Doing Home’: Patriarchy, caring, and space. Women’s Studies International Forum20: 343–350.
4.
ButlerJ (2012) Precarious life, vulnerability, and the ethics of cohabitation. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy26(2): 134–151.
5.
CantonR (2022) After-care, resettlement and social inclusion: The role of probation. Probation Journal69(3): 373–390.
CreweB (2011) Soft power in prison: Implications for staff – prisoner relationships, liberty and legitimacy. European Journal of Criminology8(6): 455468.
8.
CreweB (2021) The depth of imprisonment. Punishment & Society23(3): 335–354.
9.
CreweB (2024) ‘Sedative Coping’, contextual maturity and institutionalization among prisoners serving life sentences in England and Wales. The British Journal of Criminology64(5): 1080–1097.
Doxat-PrattSSchlieheALaursenJ (2022) ‘Thank you for having me’. The experiences and meanings of release from prison in Norway and England & Wales. Incarceration3(2): 104996.
12.
EastonKLFry McComishJGreenbergR (2000) Avoiding common pitfalls in qualitative data collection and transcription. Qualitative Health Research10(5): 703–707.
13.
FarmerMMcAlindenA-MMarunaS (2015) Understanding desistance from sexual offending: A thematic review of research findings. Probation Journal62(4): 320–335.
14.
FowlerABrownPBickleyT (2024) ‘Once a finger is pointed at you, that part of you has gone’: The completion of Horizon programme in the community and carceral citizenship for men with sexual convictions. Probation Journal71(1): 6–25.
15.
GöbbelsSWardTWillisGM (2012) An integrative theory of desistance from sex offending. Aggression and Violent Behavior17(5): 453W62.
16.
GoffmanE (1963) Stigma: Notes on the Management If Spoiled Identîty. New York: Simon & Schuster.
17.
GoffmanE (1983) The interaction order: American Sociological Association, 1982 presidential address. American Sociological Review48(1): 1–17.
18.
GoffmanE (1990) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. London: Penguin.
19.
HaggertyKDBuceriusS (2020) The proliferating pains of imprisonment. Incarceration1(1): 1–16.
20.
HigginsEMRolfeSM (2016) ‘The sleeping army’: Necropolitics and the collateral consequences of being a sex offender. Deviant Behavior38(9): 975–990.
21.
JewkesY (2005) ‘Men Behind Bars: “Doing” Masculinity as an Adaptation to Imprisonment’. Men and Masculinities8(1): 4463.
22.
KaufmanN (2019) Nongovernmental organizations and postprison life: Examining the role of religion. Punishment & Society21(4): 393–416.
23.
KotovaAAkermanG (2022) Navigating moral dimensions and lateral power — Theexperiences of men with sexual convictions and histories of sexual abuse serving sentences in a therapeutic community. Incarceration3(1): 1–17.
24.
LeonCSBuckridgeMHerdotnaM (2023) ‘I’m scared to death to try it on my own’: I-poems and the complexities of religious housing support for people on the US sex offender registry. Anti – Trafflcking Review32: 144–160.
25.
levinsA (2019) Prison officers, professionalism, and moral judgement. In: BlagdenNWinderBHockenK, et al (eds) Sexual Crime and the Experience of Imprisonment. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 85–108.
26.
levinsA (2023) Stains Oflmprisonment. Moral Communication and Men Convicted of Sex Offenseb. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
27.
levinsAMjålandK (2021) Authoritarian exclusion laissez-faire inclusion: Comparing the punishment of men convicted of sex offenses in England & Wales and Norway. Criminology59: 454–479.
28.
MallettS (2004) Understanding home: A critical review of the hterature. The Sociological Review52(1): 62–89.
29.
MannNDevendranPNLundriganS (2021) ‘You’re never really free’: Understanding the barriers to desistance for registered sexual offenders in the community. Criminology & Criminal Justice21(2): 206–223.
30.
MannRBarnettGBoxG, et al. (2019) Rehabilitative culture in prisons for people convicted of sexual offending. In: BlagdenNWinderBHockenK, et al. (eds) Sexual Crime and the Experience Ofimprisonment. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–33.
31.
MannRE (2016) Sex offenders in prison. In: JewkesYBennettJCreweB (eds) Handbook on Prisons. London: Routledge, pp. 246–264.
32.
MbembeA (2008) Necropolitics. In: MortonSBygraveS (eds) Foucault in an Age of Terror. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 152–182.
33.
MegaleE (2011) The invisible man: How the sex offender registry results in social death. Journal Oflaw and Social Deviance2: 92–97.
34.
NowellLSNorrisJMWhiteDE, et al. (2017) Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods16(1): 1–13.
RennieACreweB (2023) ‘Tightness’ autonomy release: The anticipated pains of release life licencing. The British Journal of Criminology63: 184–200.
38.
RolfeSMTewksburyRSchroederRD (2016) Homeless Shelters’ Policies on Sex Offenders: Is This Another Collateral Consequence?International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology61(16): 1833–1849.
39.
RoschelleARKaufmanP (2004) Fitting in and fighting back: Stigma management strategies among homeless kids. Symbolic Interaction27(1): 23W6.
40.
RosenbergAKeeneDSchlesingerP, et al. (2021) ‘I don’t know what home feels like anymore’: Residential spaces and the absence of ontological security for people returning from incarceration. Social Science & Medicine272: 113734.
41.
SandbuktIJ (2023) Reentry in Practice: Sexual Offending, Self-Narratives, and the Implications of Stigma in Norway. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol67(9): 930–951.
42.
SpencerD (2009) Sex offender as homo sacer. Punishment & Society11(2): 219–240.
43.
SykesGM (2007[1958]) The Society of Captives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
44.
TewksburyRLevensonJS (2007) When evidence is ignored: Residential restrictions for sex offenders. Corrections Today69(6): 54–57.
45.
ThomasT (2016) Sex Crime. Sex Offending and Society. London: Routledge.
46.
ToveyLWinderBBlagdenN (2023) ‘It’s ok if you were in for robbery or murder, but sex offending, that's a no no. A qualitative analysis of the experiences of 12 men with sexual convictions seeking employment. Psychology, Crime & Law29(6): 653–676.
