ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the experiences of persistent offenders in relation to how the meaning of previous place of residence changes, as they make the often repeated transition back and forth between prison and home, and the effect this has on reoffending and criminal desistance. Having been imprisoned for the first time at a relatively early age, most of the participants returned home after serving a short, first prison sentence bitter and resentful towards conventional society. The participants described a variety of unstable and temporary housing outcomes experienced after prison. Experiencing a growing sense of 'placelessness', many of the participants described the home neighbourhoods they returned to as filthy, dangerous and hostile, where young people act like 'complete head cases', 'far more violent than we had ever been'. The chapter summarizes the responses of the participants to the professional help and support made available to ex-prisoners in the community, in particular that provided by social services and employment agencies.
