Abstract
When members of an institution transgress, the organisation often resort to organisational control which mirrors punishment and less on behaviour transformation. As a result, members of organisations frown on the organisationally controlled punitive measures employed in an attempt to redress the situation and put the transgressor on the path to behaviour modification. This study explored how organisations can supplement the punitive control mechanism resorted to modifying the behaviour of transgressors with transgression transparency and the possibilities of transgressors sharing their stories to take personal responsibility and facilitate the process. We draw on 60 semi-structured interviews and observations of officers, prisoners and ex-offenders from an institution that supplements prison work (organisational control mechanism) with various approaches to make the transgressions of offenders transparent. Data from the inquiry revealed that transgression transparency triggered social control which propelled transgressors to tell their stories as many times in their own voice and according to their perception and understanding of the events. The effectiveness of personal narrative control after transgression transparency in achieving its rehabilitative intent or contributing to recidivism is contingent on the activation of social controls triggered after transparency, how transgressors are treated and the subsequent processes which unfold after the transgressions have been made transparent