Constructing prison identities in self-narrative

The prison environment has attracted the interest of researchers from several fields: legal, psychological, sociological and linguistic, who aim to understand the functioning of the prison environment and the behaviour of persons deprived of their liberty in a restrictive environment. The processes leading to the (re)construction of the social identity of persons incarcerated for various offences are often related to the interpersonal relations established in this rather particular context. The objective of this qualitative research is to explore the follow-up of the prisoner during the process of integration into the prison world, a process that continues with the implementation of the prison's concerns, namely the preparation of the incarcerated person for reintegration into society outside prison and his/her subsequent revaluation. The results of this research are intended to shed light on the concepts of rehabilitation and reintegration in the light of the specificity of the Tunisian socio-cultural context, and to reflect on the nature of the mechanisms put in place for this category of persons.