Research links employment to desistance but rarely asks how people formerly incarcerated define acceptable work or how those meanings shape crime avoidance, especially in strong-state settings. Using a narrative–interpretive approach, this study analyzes in-depth interviews with 11 long-term releasees in inland China. All were convicted of heroin trafficking, received sentences of 10 years or more, and had been back in the community for at least 2 years without known reoffending. Participants often rejected state-arranged or prison-like factory posts, relied on trusted strong ties while avoiding upward or public channels, and framed hard, low-status yet self-chosen jobs as “good enough” because they protected autonomy and face. These patterns recast defensive individualism as dignity work, show that shame and pride can coexist, and clarify how work meanings mediate the employment–desistance link under continuing oversight. Policy should support autonomy, face-saving access routes, and alternatives to prison-echo jobs.
Dong Li (Fri,) studied this question.