Post-Incarceration Syndrome: After-Prison Blues
A Common Scenario
Michael T., 28, returned home after a three-year bid in a New York State prison flush with $1500 that he had earned while incarcerated.
Upon release, he rented a $500-a-month room in the borough of the Bronx in New York City.
Michael’s priority: Find a job.
This proved difficult because he did not possess any special skills, training, or work experience, other than occasionally having helped his father provide freelance moving services.
In junior high school, he was in special education classes, and he did not graduate from high school. Once, he enrolled in business training school but dropped out because he could not keep up with the academic requirements.
On the personal side, Michael had hopes of reconnecting with his 11-year-old daughter whom he had not seen in several years, but he was uncertain about what role he could, or should, play in her life.
Despite these challenges, Michael wanted to turn his life around, yet he feared that he might fail. When frustrated, he could become confrontational, even with siblings.
Those closest to him did not fully comprehend the challenges—legal, financial, and personal—that he faced. For example, he revealed to a family member that several state corrections officers had beat him up, an event that scarred him psychologically.
To cope with his anxiety and dissatisfaction, Michael depended on prescription drugs—Xanax, Percocet, and fentanyl.
Sadly, at age 31, he died from a drug overdose.
Expectations
Many years ago, I lived next door to a young man named Patrick (not his real name) who had recently been released from prison.
Each morning on my way to work, I would see him sitting on the stoop of his mother’s brownstone having a smoke. He seemed lost, distracted, and lonely. Adrift. I do not know what eventually became of Patrick, but that image remained with me.
Ironically, I never imagined that my son (now deceased) would spend half of his adult life in New York State prisons. In the ensuing years, I watched him, and other young men in my family, upon release from prison, struggle with behavioral and emotional problems. In varying degrees, each exhibited the signs of paranoia, anxiety, aggression, disorientation, and alienation.
On my podcast (In the Name of Justice), I have discussed post-incarceration syndrome (PICS), a phenomenon that social scientists say needs further study.
Most families have no knowledge of PICS or its signs—PTSD, paranoia, disorientation, social-sensory deprivation, hypervigilance, depression, and social withdrawal.
Many organizations (e.g., The Fortune Society) provide post-release services, including job training, housing, and education; nonetheless, unless the effects of PICS are addressed, men and women on parole are less likely to re-establish family ties, overcome negative personal habits or traits, counteract the effects of institutionalism, develop critical thinking skills, or create personal, economic, and educational goals.
Prisons are Awful Places.
On May 13, 2021, “Prison Policy Initiative Updates” reported, “The carceral environment can be inherently damaging to mental health by removing people from society and eliminating meaning and purpose from their lives. On top of that, the appalling conditions common in prisons and jails — such as overcrowding, solitary confinement, and routine exposure to violence — can have further negative effects. Researchers have even theorized that incarceration can lead to “Post-Incarceration Syndrome,” a syndrome similar to PTSD, meaning that even after serving their official sentences, many people continue to suffer the mental effects.” (Editor’s note)
According to the Equal Justice Initiative’s website, “…prisons and jails in America are in crisis. Incarcerated people are beaten, stabbed, raped, and killed in facilities run by corrupt officials who abuse their power with impunity. People who need medical care, help managing their disabilities, mental health and addiction treatment, and suicide prevention are denied care, ignored, punished, and placed in solitary confinement.”
Hence, it is no surprise that individuals might suffer the trauma of negative prison experiences.
The mission—through my podcast and my blog—is to shine a light on PICS, to educate families about its consequences, and to provide resources for them to assist a loved one on the difficult journey from brokenness to wholeness.
© 2021 wistajohnson.com (Reprint by permission only.)