ABSTRACT
This chapter will present initial findings from an in-depth psychosocial study into the impact conversions to Christianity have upon prisoner identity, community reintegration and desistance. Drawing upon the self-narratives of 13 ex-prisoners, claiming to having had life-changing conversions, it will argue that framing such experiences through both Badiouian (2008) and Žižekian (2014) philosophical notions of ‘Event’, may allow us to get further to the heart of what is going on in such processes, and allow us to rehabilitate established notions of ‘turning points’ and identity perspectives. The findings reveal how fidelity to the ‘event’ can be easily retained inside prison, but upon release, ex-prisoners are faced with a double vulnerability that entails navigating both a new spiritual ‘reality’ and a non-offending identity – how one is able to maintain this new outlook in an often-unforgiving system and society is the ultimate test and therefore requires more service provision support.
