"We're Fucking Human Beings Too": Narratives of Dehumanization and Resistance Among Formerly Incarcerated People

Background and Purpose: The dehumanization of incarcerated people is a common and persistent feature of prisons in the United States. Despite the proliferation of dehumanization research over the past few decades, there is limited empirical work that focuses on incarcerated people and how dehumanization operates within the context of imprisonment. Even fewer studies examine the phenomenon from their perspective. Consequently, the dehumanization of incarcerated people has not been well defined, and examination of the phenomenon has not been sufficiently explored. This study centers the voices, experiences, and stories of formerly incarcerated people and draws attention to a topic and population that are understudied and overlooked. The purpose of this study was to understand experiences of dehumanization in prison and how formerly incarcerated people make meaning of those experiences.

Methods: Using a narrative approach and a purposive sampling strategy, in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 people previously imprisoned in the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC). The majority of storyteller participants identified as White (70.6%), male (58.8%), and Christian (47.1%). Interviews covered topics related to how storytellers were treated in prison, interactions with prison staff, grievance procedures, quality of food, facility cleanliness, privacy, health and mental health services, punishment practices, and how their experiences in prison impacted them. Basic demographic questions were also asked to help contextualize storyteller narratives.

Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and uploaded to ATLAS.ti 9 for analysis. Thematic coding of narratives consisted of open and axial coding to identify collective narratives of dehumanization and collective narratives of resistance shared among this group of formerly incarcerated people.

Results: Analysis of interviews with the storytellers suggested that dehumanization was a common, institutionalized feature of their prison experience. Thematic analysis resulted in three narrative themes of dehumanization: (1) You are no longer a human being, (2) They don’t care about us, (3) CDOC can do what it wants, and (4) It could be worse. Additionally, analysis suggested that storytellers found ways to resist their dehumanization and assert their humanity. Thematic analysis resulted in two narrative themes of resistance: (1) We define who we are, and (2) We care about the humanity of others.

Conclusions and Implications: This study expands the knowledge base on dehumanization in general and the dehumanization of incarcerated people specifically through definitional and theoretical contributions to the literature. Grounded in the stories and experiences of storytellers, this study proposes a definition of dehumanization in prison, which challenges dominant understandings of dehumanization as an individual-level phenomenon that lacks a consideration of power. Further, it proposes a theoretical framework for understanding how the dehumanization of incarcerated people functions to deepen our commitment to prisons. Findings support the development of transformational policy narratives, which shift dominant narratives that construct prisons as corrective institutions that are needed to rehabilitate incarcerated people, who are unworthy and remorseless. Findings also bridge micro and macro concepts for social work students through the use of stories and narratives that animate and make tangible the impact of larger systemic forces on individual experiences of dehumanization.