By Ioan Durnescu

The ethnography of the prisoner transitions aims at developing an advanced understanding of the re-entry process from the subjective perspective of prisoners themselves. The processes, interactions, meanings and conflicts involved in re-entry will be examined from Roma and non-Roma prisoner’s point of view. Moreover, in order to assess the impact of the cultural, political and social environment on the reintegration process, the research will be conducted in two countries: Norway and Romania. The research sample will consist of 20 Romanian prisoners with Roma background, 20 Romanian prisoners with non-Roma background, 10 Romanian prisoners held in a Norwegian prison and 5 Romanian prisoners with Roma background held in a Norwegian prison. The data collection and data analysis will follow the same procedure in both countries so that comparative analysis will be possible.

The research methodology is based on an ethnographic design where researchers will ‘immerse’ themselves into the subjective realities of the prisoners. The main research methods will be observation, in-depth interview, psychometric tests and photography. During the research, the researchers will spend as much time as possible with the participants prior to and post release. The participants will ‘shadow’ the released prisoners in the first day of freedom. Interviews will be conducted: one before release and four after release (after one week, after one month, after three months, after one year from release). Psychometrics will monitor changes in motivation, agency, hope, problem solving and coping abilities.
Preliminary results will be presented at the Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, Porto, September, 2015.
The project is co-funded by the EEA Grants / Norway through the Romanian Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation.
For more info:
Ioan Durnescu: idurnescu@gmail.com
Thomas Ugelvik: thomas.ugelvik@jus.uio.no