The process of penitentiary rehabilitation in the experiences of former convicts
The process of penitentiary rehabilitation in the experiences of former convicts

Summary/Abstract: The content presented in the study is an excerpt from a broader research conductedby the author on the effectiveness of social rehabilitation impacts of selected prisons inour country. In this study, we used the results related to the external effectiveness of socialrehabilitation, in which a lot of space was devoted to reconstructing the experiences of formerconvicts made with the use of open in-depth interviews. The aim of the analyses wasto obtain answers to the following question: What factors in experiencing penitentiary isolationand achieving success in social rehabilitation do former convicts attribute the greatestimportance to?The area of research exploration outlined in this way consisted of two research fields focusedon giving meaning to the conditions of imprisonment and the interpersonal relations of theconvicts. The research provided rich empirical material showing the multiplicity and sometimesalso different meanings associated with experiencing penitentiary isolation. However,the greatest importance was given by the subjects to good relations with the family and otherclosest people as well as character traits manifested in high resistance to stress and difficultconditions of penitentiary isolation.Although the research results obtained are limited in terms of sample selection and do notgive rise to wider generalizations, they show – contrary to popular beliefs – that penitentiaryrehabilitation is not as bad as it is believed to be, but it is also a process that has positiveaspects that must certainly be found and, of course, developed.

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