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Moral Injury, Post-incarceration Syndrome and Religious Coping Behind Bars

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Lived Religion, Conversion and Recovery

Abstract

Conviction and incarceration shatter a person’s integrity and identity. Incarcerated perpetrators may suffer from moral injury and are forced to live in circumstances of permanent stress and fear. Whether or not such suffering is “their own fault,” moral injury and post-incarceration syndrome are understudied traumas. This chapter analyses the characteristics of the syndromes and investigates religious ways of coping with trauma, by focusing on prison conversions from a “lived religion” perspective. We distinguish two clusters of coping effects of such conversions. (1) Conversions and biographical reconstruction may foster “moral healing” and restore self-esteem in an environment aimed at de-individuation and stigmatization. (2) Conversions and the feeling of dependence on a new “root reality” result in a felt liberation from the institutional powers determining prison lives.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kant Academy Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Theo van Willigenburg

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Theo van Willigenburg

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  1. Theo van Willigenburg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Religion and Theology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Srdjan Sremac

  2. Gordon College, Wenham, MA, USA

    Ines W. Jindra

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van Willigenburg, T. (2020). Moral Injury, Post-incarceration Syndrome and Religious Coping Behind Bars. In: Sremac, S., Jindra, I. (eds) Lived Religion, Conversion and Recovery . Palgrave Studies in Lived Religion and Societal Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40682-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40682-0_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-40681-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-40682-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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