BIO

My name is Taylor Waddell, and I am a second year honors student at Florida State University. I am majoring in economics and political science, with an interest in pursuing a law degree. I am from Panama City, FL where I enjoy their beautiful beaches, and in my opinion, the best sunsets in Florida. I enjoy working out, hanging with my friends, cooking, and reading. Here at FSU I am a member and sisterhood chair of the Delta Zeta sorority, the social chair of the Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity, I work with Forward FSU, I am in the Honors Program, and I have an internship with the Chief Financial Officer of Florida. My research is on exploring perceived benefits of incarceration among a sample of incarcerated men with substance abuse.

COLLATERAL BENEFITS? EXPLORING PERCEIVED BENEFITS OF INCARCERATION AMONG A SAMPLE OF INCARCERATED MEN WITH SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS

Abstract

This research study works to understand the perceived benefits of incarceration, in dealing with inmates who suffer from substance use disorders (SUD). Substance abuse is defined as the overindulgence in or dependence on addictive substances, especially alcohol, or drugs. The US has the highest rates of incarceration among countries, with extremely high rates of recidivism as well. Recidivism is defined as the tendency for a convicted criminal to re-offend. Contributing to recidivism is SUDs, which around 65% of incarcerated individuals have. Counter to popular stigmas, what are-if any- benefits to incarceration that prisoners with SUDs perceive? In-depth, interviews were conducted with 88 incarcerated men, who all struggled with SUDs. Through iterative team-based coding, using the software NVivo, common themes regarding the prisoner’s experiences were identified within the transcripts. Early themes that have emerged such as that the prisoners were able to have extended time sober/abstinent from drugs, their ability to clearly reflect and think on their life choices, their time to develop relationships within the friendships, the time to keep up with their outside world relationships, and to overall be able to work on themselves. It is important to understand these perceived benefits of incarceration as they shed light on the challenges that these men faced prior to their incarceration. Incarceration provides resources, relationships, and time that inmates would not have received if they had not been incarcerated. These perceived benefits give us insight into how we can work to better our prison systems and in turn reduce recidivism rates.

Keywords: criminology