Survey of Prison Inmates’ Career Thoughts and Working Motivation: An Exploratory Study of Inmates of Private Finance Prisons

<p>The present exploratory study aimed to investigate the career thoughts and work motivation of inmates who had low recidivism risk and who had received vocational training at two Private Finance Initiative prisons in Japan. In these prisons, some of the operations are handled by private companies, financed in part by the government’s Private Finance Initiative program. After the inmates (N＝535) completed a questionnaire, the data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analyses in order to examine the subcategories of career thoughts hindering working, career thoughts improving continuous working, and job motivation. These categories were drawn from previous studies in career psychology. Although the results confirmed several subcategories as defined in previous studies, some challenges were encountered, including ceiling effects on several items and an inadequate model fit, particularly for job motivation. Gender differences in career thoughts hindering working and career thoughts improving continuous working were also examined. The results indicated that, compared to the male inmates, the female inmates had greater expectations for a job after their release and recognized important values, but also had a feeling of exclusion and anxiety about working due to their imprisonment. Furthermore, the women demonstrated lower coping skills when dealing with stress and undesirable situations than the men. Overall, the present findings suggest the need for further research on psychological and situational factors related to inmates’ work careers in order to provide better support to them in overcoming the challenges that they face during their reentry into society. The results of the present study highlight the importance of addressing gender differences when developing interventions and support programs for inmates. The study’s limitations and implications for future studies were also discussed.</p>