Peer Support in Prison

How Incarcerated People make Meaning through Active Citizenship

By: Christian Perrin

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eText | 23 September 2024 | Edition Number 1

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This book explores the profound impact of peer support within the bleak landscape of incarceration. In a system bereft of opportunities for personal growth, the narratives within these pages reveal how individuals who have committed offences rebuild their lives by 'giving back' and establishing meaningful connections with their fellow inmates.

Peer Support in Prison draws on rich phenomenological interviews conducted with prisoners who assumed altruistic social roles while serving time. In doing so, it highlights the value of peer support in fostering hope, making meaning, and cultivating prosocial identities. By adopting empathic and mutually supportive roles within the prison community, individuals forge a pathway to a more meaningful future, defying unfavourable odds. The text unfolds to demonstrate that, even for those denigrated and rejected as 'evil', change is possible when motivated by principles of compassion, reciprocity, and connectedness.

This book attests to the adaptability of humans, offering a unique perspective on how incarcerated individuals can find redemption, build trust, and reconstruct their lives through the transformative power of generativity and active citizenship. This has great implications for a stagnant carceral system which does not work as a restorative mechanism. Within the frame of 'generative justice', the findings from this book offer hopeful alternatives to the cruel hegemony of prison.