Hook for change or shaky peg? Imprisonment, narratives and desistance

Abstract

Given the twin challenges of the fiscal costs of high levels of imprisonment and of high reconviction rates post-release, the question of whether imprisonment can (and does) contribute to processes of desistance is a crucial one. This article discusses the repeated, and controversial, research finding that some prisoners see themselves as transformed by imprisonment. It argues, with reference to the narratives of Scottish prisoners, that this is not owing to intentional rehabilitative input, but driven by the need to craft a positive future. The article explores under what circumstances a transformation narrative is most likely to emerge and whether such narratives have the power to make desistance more likely.