Out of prison, into the world: who will give you another chance?

Would you give someone recently released from prison a another chance? Or have you already made up your mind about them? For the Van Bajes naar Buiten project (Prison and Beyond), Jennifer Doekhie and Anouk den Besten spoke to individuals currently and previously imprisoned about their return to society.  

Criminologists Anouk and Jennifer (together with their colleague Rosa) conducted their interviews in virtually every setting imaginable in The Hague: the prison, community centres, homeless shelters, park benches and even the snack bar around the corner. ‘The kind of research we do isn’t quite what most people expect when they think of academics. We don’t just sit at our laptops, but we talk to people. For this research, we interviewed imprisoned individuals three times: once in prison and twice after release.’  

Municipality of The Hague takes its role seriously

The city of The Hague is an important player here, just like Rotterdam and Amsterdam, because many previously imprisoned individuals come to these cities upon release. But how is this for them, and what challenges do they face? ‘The municipality, probation and prison services are jointly responsible for looking after people who are released from prison. We can see that the Municipality of The Hague takes its job seriously. They have Bureau Nazorg, for example, an organisation that helps people rebuild their lives. The policy for these people looks good on paper, but there has been very little research on how it works in practice, so that’s what we’re doing.’  

Looking at the person behind the crime

The interviews provided the researchers with a deeper understanding of how society treats vulnerable people. What did they find? There is often a disconnect between policy and practice. ‘There are loads of funds and grants, but these do not always reach the people who need them most. People go to prison and are released with unresolved problems in various areas: housing, work, debt, addiction and mental health. Complex issues that require custom solutions. But then you need to have some idea of the person behind the crime. And that information is often missing.’ 

Label such as ‘ex-prisoner’ is tough

And that is where the person’s history comes in. This is what motivates Jennifer and Anouk to do their research. ‘Looking into the dynamics of the problems these people are facing and the link to crime, so we can understand them better. There are reasons why people end up in difficult situations – we don’t all have the same start in life and a large part of our prison population deals with mental problems and intellectual disabilities. Social factors also play a major role, such as poverty, social inequality and cuts to healthcare services. Being given a label like ‘ex-prisoner’ is really tough. There’s a lot of stigma, and fighting back is hard. Try looking for a job when you have a criminal record. We’ve heard stories of people being rejected for voluntary work. Where are you supposed to start?’  

Jennifer and Anouk hope their research will open the eyes of policymakers. ‘It’s become our mission to get others on board – to align policy with the needs of people in prison, and to help society understand the context of their problems. Because in our view, everyone deserves a second chance.’ 

Text: Margriet van der Zee
Photography: Wilke Geurds