Service and Surveillance: How Formerly Incarcerated People Navigate Penal-Welfare Trade-Offs

Abstract

Scholarship has shown how individuals experience difficulties upon release from incarceration. While the state may provide resources to aid the reentry process, formerly incarcerated individuals may view these same resources as perpetuating surveillance. My research question asks: How do formerly incarcerated populations perceive and experience welfare services ostensibly intended to improve their livelihoods? Using ethnographic fieldnotes and in-depth interviews with four service providers and 32 clients at a county resource center for individuals involved in the criminal legal system, I develop the concept “penal-welfare trade-off” to explain how formerly incarcerated individuals across different supervision statuses decide to accept or reject welfare services. In this penal-welfare trade-off, the formerly incarcerated decide whether to receive benefits from institutionalized services at the perceived expense of greater surveillance or distance themselves from this welfare, prioritizing freedom and autonomy at the risk of facing more adversity. I find that perceptions of the penal-welfare trade-off can be reduced when positive interactions with providers help clients become more receptive toward services. However, other ethnoracially marginalized individuals may believe that service provision is structurally unequal, impacting their perceptions toward reentry services. Importantly, these findings point to complexities in the hybrid penal-welfare state and how anchoring resources in state institutions can lead to unintended portrayals of surveillance.

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