The convict code as an explanation of behavior
The state Department of Corrections was running a halfway house designed to help ease inmates' transition from prison to community
State officials and staff conceived of the halfway house would prepare the ex-prisoner for the pressures of normal life by providing a "homelike" environment or a "bridge to the community"
Wieder took the job and set out to conduct participant observation at the halfway house as naturalistically as he could.
He arranged for his introductions to the staff and residents as informal as possible