Semiotic Practices: A conceptual window on the post-prison experience

Abstract

Most prisoners get out of prison. Staying out, for some, can be challenging. Understanding these challenges can help ex-prisoners and those supporting them to interrupt cycles of offending and imprisonment. This paper considers the possibilities of ‘culture’ as an analytical tool for uncovering aspects of the post-imprisonment experience that may contribute to imprisonment cycles. It draws on interviews with released prisoners and post-release support workers in Victoria, Australia, to illustrate how culture interpreted as ‘semiotic practices’ illuminates processes underpinning and constituting the cycle of reimprisonment. A semiotic-practical lens reveals how such processes can counteract efforts towards reintegration and reduced reoffending, on the part of ex-prisoners themselves and society more broadly.