“I don't know what home feels like anymore”: Residential spaces and the absence of ontological security for people returning from incarceration

Housing is central to health equity, and mass incarceration is an important but understudied aspect of housing vulnerability and health inequity. One way in which housing can be linked to health and health inequity is through ontological security. Ontological security, or a sense of feeling at home, is comprised of constancy, daily routines, privacy, and a basic security that enables the development of one's identity. It has been theorized as a mechanism by which people reap the health benefits of housing. Based on two waves of interviews in 2017–2018 with a sample of 27 people returning from incarceration in a northeast U.S. city, we describe participants' residential experiences during the first two years after release. Participants lived in residential group settings, with friends, partners and family, or were homeless. They experienced impermanence, punitive place rules, surveillance, and a lack of control. In contrast, participants spoke about their idea of home, imagined from the past or for the future, as a place of privacy, control, and wellbeing. This analysis expands the study of ontological security by detailing its absence among people returning from incarceration. The concept of ontological security holds promise in delineating the ways in which housing provides health benefits, and is particularly useful for understanding the needs and experiences of those returning from prison and seeking to restart their lives in the community. Relatedly, participant narratives point to the expansion of the carceral state beyond prison, including into residential space, with implications for the intersection of housing and health equity.