Research in carceral contexts: confronting access barriers and engaging former prisoners

Prison systems, with the ability to reject or approve applications for conducting research with incarcerated populations, function as shapers of carceral knowledge and thus can potentially close opportunities for new qualitative studies as well as affect the quality and richness of the data obtained. This article describes a collaborative research process wherein access to current prisoners was not granted, and only former prisoners who were not on parole were eligible to participate in the study. We provide a unique reflective analysis of how access barriers altered the scope of our research and may have impacted our findings were it not for a change in our recruitment plan. We also incorporate insights from multiple literatures that speak to the value, challenges, and ethical concerns associated with doing research with former prisoners. Our contribution to the qualitative carceral literature sparks new questions worthy of further in-depth exploration, in particular how to more meaningfully involve former prisoners in the research process.