Becoming Employable: An Ethnographic Study of Life Skills Courses in a Men's Jail. (November 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Abrams, Laura S.; Lea, Charles H.
• Is Part Of: Prison journal. Volume 96:Number 5(2016)
• Page Start: 667
• Page End: 687
• Publication Date: 2016-11
• Subjects: life skills -- prisoner rehabilitation -- ethnography -- employment; Prisons -- Periodicals; Prisons -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 365.6
• DOI: 10.1177/0032885516662627
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0032-8855

Abstract

Correctional education can have a positive influence on post-release employment. Yet barriers to employment remain significant, particularly for formerly incarcerated men of color. In this article, the authors use ethnographic methods to critically examine the underlying discourses involved in jail-based life skills courses geared to assist men in becoming "employable." With few exceptions, life skills instructors did not address structural barriers to employment. Rather, major themes of the courses included individual responsibility, cognition, and spiritual enlightenment. The authors suggest that these life skills courses mirrored a larger correctional philosophy in keeping the focus on individual behavior rather than structural conditions.