PICS, can we really spot the behaviors?
The collective is speaking to Post Incarceration Syndrome, known as PICS, but can we really speak to it? For those who are involved in the Reentry space, and those who are previously incarcerated and those who are sympathizers, the question remains, can we really spot PICS and then actively intervene?
People who enter the carceral system are often beaten, battered, and bruised by experiences in life. Trauma is not new to them, yet the fears and stressors that prison creates for the individual only compound those experiences. With lack of mental health care within the prisons and jails systems, the trauma that is perpetuated by the carceral system is post incarceration syndrome, known more commonly as PICS. PICS is characterized as “a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological shock, typically involving disturbance of sleep and constant vivid recall of the experience, with dulled responses to others and to the outside world.” (Oxford)
The attributes of PICS can often go unnoticed and perhaps lay dormant before a life situation triggers and brings it to the surface. The prison systems breed traumatic events, stressors, fear, and psychological harm. Prison adversely impacts self-esteem, self-worth, cognition, and the human spirit. (Flood, 2018). While incarcerated, many painful and devastating memories may often be awakened due to the harsh conditions of a dehumanizing, uncaring lifestyle that prison life offers. These memories of past traumatic experiences may cause a person to undergo crippling emotional reactions and pain. (Thomas, 2019).
To humanizes this, I am going to set the stage. Imagine a co-worker who came home from prison just three years ago. While this co-worker works in the reentry space and speaks about PICS and the significance of the traumas and how the interplay can affect their work, and personal interactions. This coworker started to exhibit some strange behaviors, manic episodes, and other behaviors that are the visceral responses to fight or flight response to stimuli of triggers.
When working with newly released individuals in transitional housing, PICS started to surface. When a person is in fight or flight or even manic episodes that person is not able to recognize the response because it’s a survival mechanism, enabling that person to react quickly to life-threatening situations. The carefully orchestrated sequence of hormonal changes and physiological responses helps someone to fight the threat off or flee to safety. Unfortunately, the body can also overreact to stressors that are not life-threatening, such as work pressure, and family difficulties. The stress affects the chemistry. In the brain the amygdala, a part of the brain that helps with emotional processing. The amygdala interprets sounds and images and perceives danger, sends distress signals to the hypothalamus.
So, let’s get back to the co-worker. When one is consistently bombarded by stressors and triggers of other newly released individuals, the experience of prison and prison culture resurfaced. The co-worker responded by slipping back into the “chain gang” responses experienced while in prison. The co-workers became irritable, engaging in potentially risky decision and negative responses to ego. The co-worker became fearful, suspect of all who was around them and had periods of disassociation. The co-worker had sleep disturbances, worried thoughts and became secretive and defensive to their team. No one on the team noticed the co-worker’s reactive behavior’s and just chop it up to “well their is being them”. Even though one co-worker told the COO, the co-worker was experiencing stress in their personal life, the co-workers’ behaviors were never addressed, and no one sought help. The co-worker spiraled and was not helped.
So the question is can we really spot PICS when the symptoms and issues are not being learned by those working in the reentry space? Can we really help those with PICS when the body of mental health professionals and family members are unaware of triggers. With nearly 1.68 million people were incarcerated in the U.S. in 2023, and than 650,000 ex-offenders are released from prison every year, and studies show that approximately two-thirds will likely be rearrested within three years of release, due to reentry barriers and unattended mental health supports from PICS.