Employability Challenges Among Recidivists: A Qualitative Study.

Crime is a social phenomenon in almost every country. The increasing of crime incidents now and then could instigate the recurrence of crimes. The integration of prison inmates into society after release is a challenging phase to start with a new life outside the prison. Therefore, this study aims to explore recidivism perspectives on the Human Rehabilitation Program (PPI) toward career goals and recidivism factors. The design of this study is a narrative design using a qualitative approach where a semi-structured interview protocol was used to facilitate the data collection processes. A total of five recidivists from a prison in the southern zone were selected as study participants. The interview data obtained from a one-to-one interview session were analysed using thematic analysis. The results of this study found that four factors might influence the repetitive entrance of recidivists to prison namely, difficulty in finding a job, unwillingness to change, family and community stigma, and the relaxation of conditions for participating in the PPI programs. In conclusion, apart from these difficulties, securing employment is another reason which has caused recidivism to occur. Therefore, this study suggests that an intervention should be made to the PPI programs provided by the prison to ensure its relevance in line with the needs of recidivists in terms of physical, personality, skills, and societal integrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]