“Arriving home after thirty years”: The lived housing experience of older persons with a penal background
| Cormier, E虂., Gagnon, M., Bordeleau, M., Chouinard, J. T. & Sussman, T. (2024, October 7). Housing older persons with a penal background: The lived experience of older persons with a penal background [Paper presentation]. Canadian Criminal Justice Association Conference, Banff, AB. |
Abstract
As part of the Aging in the right place study, Maison Joe Mell was identified as a promising practice supporting older persons experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness.
Older lifers and long-term sentences are vulnerable to residential and social precarity upon discharge from prison and resources that support their integration out of the correctional systems act as protective factors.
We met 7 residents who had recently moved into this resource. Through photovoice interviews, their perspective on their environment was gathered. Thematic analysis of their testimonies revealed that the resources responsiveness to participants' basic and anticipated needs seems to 1) enable them to overcome their tendency towards solitude and mistrust, and express their desire to engage with a community and 2) create a space for reflection and mobilization to see these aspirations fulfilled.
Essential characteristics of promising practices and challenges that lie ahead of these resources will be discussed.
