Experiences of working with offenders

Hi, all. There's a lot of fun but ultimately fairly pointless speculation going on about Adnan's mental health and personality (and Jay's, and Jenn's, and everyone even remotely related to the case). I thought it might be interesting to get some opinions, anecdotes, and experiences from people who have worked either in prison's or with serious offenders in the community. When I started that work (getting on for 10 years ago now) there were some things that really surprised me and I think some things need a bit of perspective.

Full disclosure: I work in the UK. I have an academic knowledge of some aspects of the US prison system, but fuck all beyond that. There may be - probably are - vast cultural differences. I also have no strong opinions on anyone's guilt in Serial. I am NOT A LAWYER. What I do has had various names over the years but it's basically offender management - so planning and monitoring sentencing, release, community re-integration.

There's a couple of things that stand out for me in the kind of analysis of Adnan's personality which I've seen around here.

1. Sociopath/anti-social personality disorder. Firstly, over half of the people in prison are diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, and more than that easily fit the criteria. The criteria are bullshit, and this is pretty much regarded as a non-diagnosis in offender management which you will try to avoid talking about as much as possible. It's essentially a descriptor of behaviour - have you been involved in any serious crimes? - plus a few things that are true of pretty much everyone who has been involved in serious crimes (involvement in minor crimes, struggling to meet societal "standards", difficulties forming relationships). It's sort of the psychological classification of being a bit of a dick. In almost every case where I've considered this a valid diagnosis, the person also had conduct disorder or other severe behavioural difficulties as a child. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same as saying "has committed a crime."

On sociopathy - I've never worked with anyone who was a sociopath. I've never known anyone to work with anyone who was a sociopath. It's just not that common - but of course that doesn't mean it doesn't happen - but I have worked with plenty of people who weren't sociopaths yet were still better at playing the system than Adnan. And, if he is guilty, way better than Adnan at planning crimes.

On attitude towards imprisonment: I don't think speculation about Adnan's desire for release (is he trying hard enough? is he not trying? why isn't he doing more to make his side plausible?) is tricky. Adnan seems to be doing alright in prison and this does happen. It happens quite a lot. A colleague of mine once worked with a young man (early 20s I believe), who was in and out of prison for small crimes and really liked prison. He couldn't manage outside and intentionally committed increasingly serious crimes to get himself back inside. Eventually he killed someone (a drug-dealer, chosen as a target because he didn't want to kill anyone "innocent". Make of that what you will) so he could get as long a sentence as possible. He's very happy in prison. I've worked with a lot of people around release and resettlement planning, and while most people are happy to be getting out, a significant proportion are seriously scared. Post-release, I have known quite a high proportion of people intentionally reoffend to return to custody as well. It's better than being homeless, unemployed, etc etc.

Adnan is in the cooking club. He's well liked. He's got his own cell. He still has good contact from his family. Plus, as was said in the podcast, he went from being a ward of his parents to a ward of the state - he has never lived an independent adult life. 15 years is a long time, especially when it starts at a formative age, and I think it's worth keeping in mind that he may not entirely want to leave prison. I don't think this can be taken as indication of guilt or innocence.

Finally - can you tell if someone is guilty through their conduct and personality? I did a quick poll of the office on this the other day and some people say absolutely, yes, I can, let me have a few sessions with someone claiming innocence and I will tell you if they're telling the truth. Others say no way, it's too easy to be influenced by whether you like them or not.

Personally? Some people are fucking horrible and you know they've done bad things. But most of the people I've worked with are like Adnan - maybe not as smart - but basically coming across as nice, fully human, respectful and caring people. I'm including the (admitted) murderers I've worked with in that statement. It's a horrible reality of my job that some of the clients I've most looked forward to my meetings with have killed people. And some of the clients I've most dreaded seeing have had a much lower-level offending history.

So in summary - I don't think you can tell from someone's personality. I will say, either way, that someone still protesting their innocence after 15 years is super unusual. I've never had a client like that. Only one of my colleagues (in an office of 10) could recall having a client like that.

I'd be really interested to hear other people's experiences of working with offenders and whether's Adnan's manner or story hits any buttons for you.