Can Prison Build Health? A Salutogenic View on Identity and Change
Photo by: Photo by Bob Jagendorf, licensed under CC BY-NC
Posted by: Dr. Bonginkosi Ndimande (PhD)
When most people think of prison, they think of punishment, risk, and public safety. Rarely do we ask: can prison environments contribute to psychological growth? This question guided my research in a correctional facility in South Africa and challenges common assumptions about incarceration and rehabilitation.
Many rehabilitation programs focus on reducing risk — identifying what is “wrong” and attempting to fix it. While this can reduce reoffending, it often overlooks how people see themselves. Identity matters. If a person continues to see themselves only as “a criminal,” long-term change is fragile. Sustainable transformation requires a shift in self-understanding.
This is where salutogenesis offers a powerful lens.
Developed by Aaron Antonovsky, salutogenesis asks not, “What causes breakdown?” but “What supports health and resilience, even under stress?” Central to this is the Sense of Coherence, which includes:
• Comprehensibility – Life feels understandable rather than chaotic.
• Manageability – I have the resources to cope.
• Meaningfulness – My life is worth investing in.
In prison, many individuals experience the opposite: confusion about life choices, powerlessness, and loss of purpose. Yet when programs encourage reflection, skill-building, and supportive relationships, shifts occur. Participants make sense of their past, identify patterns in decisions and relationships, and gain emotional, vocational, and social tools — strengthening manageability.
Importantly, many rediscover meaning. They reconnect with roles as parents, partners, workers, or community members. In group settings, storytelling is transformative. Sharing experiences in structured spaces allows inmates to see themselves reflected in others. Shame gives way to responsibility. Responsibility opens the door to agency.
This does not romanticize prison. Correctional institutions remain restrictive, yet environments can erode or strengthen coherence. A salutogenic approach asks institutions worldwide:
• Does this environment help people make sense of experiences?
• Does it strengthen their ability to cope with challenges?
• Does it help them reconnect with meaning and purpose?
These principles extend to schools, workplaces, refugee camps, hospitals, and unstable communities. Health, in a salutogenic sense, is not merely the absence of disease — it is the presence of coherence.
When individuals see life as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful, identity can shift. When identity shifts, behaviour often follows. If rehabilitation systems wish to support sustainable reintegration, they must move beyond compliance and control — toward coherence and dignity. Even in confinement, growth remains possible, and that possibility is profoundly human.
During my research, I observed quietly powerful transformations: when individuals are given space to reflect, tools to cope, and reasons to hope, they begin to see themselves differently. Salutogenesis reminds us that even within restrictive systems, environments can support dignity, resilience, and growth. Wherever coherence is strengthened, transformation follows.
References
• Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unravelling the mystery of health: How people manage stress and stay well. Jossey-Bass.
• Eriksson, M., & Mittelmark, M. B. (2016). The sense of coherence and its measurement. In The Handbook of Salutogenesis. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319- 04600-6_12
• Lindström, B., & Eriksson, M. (2006). Contextualizing salutogenesis and Antonovsky in public health development. Health Promotion International, 21(3). https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dal016
• Maruna, S. (2016). Time to get rid of the skid bid? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 665, 98–102.https:// doi.org/10.1177/0002716216632698
• Ndimande, B. (2024). The Impact of Rehabilitation on the Self-perception of Inmates Incarcerated at Leeuwkop Correctional Centre, South Africa [PhD Thesis]. University of the Western Cape.
