ExPReSS surveys: experiences of prison and social reintegration of released prisoners

For the past twenty years in France, the increase in the number of people in prison has coincided with an increase in the number of released prisoners. In 2019, 70,300 prisoners were released from prison. The statistics published by the Ministry of Justice mainly characterize the stock of the prison population. Considering the varying lengths of detention, the population of those released certainly presents very different characteristics from the population incarcerated on a given date. It is also the target population for any study that aims to assess prisoners’ capacities to reintegrate into society. The ExPReSS survey (Experiences of prison and social reintegration of released prisoners) is a multi-thematic quantitative survey of 500 prisoners conducted a few days before their release from 3 remand prisons in the Paris area. The survey will be used to characterize their social, administrative, economic, health, and legal situations and to describe the conditions in which they will be released. It will also allow them to express themselves regarding their experience of detention. A secondary - but important - objective of the project is to study the recidivism of respondents by matching the collected data with the National Criminal Record.The survey is followed by qualitative post-surveys. The richness and robustness of the collected material will enable the scientific community to conduct new studies that can guide the actions of those who deal with the prison population.

Depuis vingt ans, l’augmentation des effectifs incarcérés s’accompagne d’une hausse des flux de sortants. Les statistiques publiées par le ministère de la Justice caractérisent principalement le stock de la population écrouée. Compte tenu des durées différentiels de détention, la population des sortants présente à coup sûr des traits bien différents de la population incarcérée à une date donnée. C’est par ailleurs la population cible de toute étude qui vise à évaluer les capacités de réinsertion des anciens détenus.

List of participants