Description
Book SynopsisThis timely, readable text offers an authoritative and balanced analysis of how racially driven policies in America impact post release education as a leading pathway to social reintegration. Compelling research findings from an assemblage of college faculty, seasoned administrators, and criminal justice professionals are interwoven with first-person narratives from formerly incarcerated individuals. This book takes full advantage of its interdisciplinary mixture of voices and positionality to build its argument upon a three-part framework from Critical Race Theory (CRT). It convincingly utilizes the tools of academic research, counterstories, and counterspaces to make a persuasive case that the intersection of race, the criminal justice system, and education represent one of the greatest civil rights issues of our time. Part 1, Context, Critical Race Theory and College Re-Entry, explores the historical and current dynamics of these uniquely American intersections while linking Critica
Trade ReviewChaney and Schwarz have produced a book that is critically important for educators and those interested in helping re-build lives and communities of the formerly incarcerated. Race, Education, and Reintegrating Formerly Incarcerated Citizens has so many virtues to recommend it. Not only does it provide a critical analysis of the challenges facing the formerly incarcerated, but it also provides workable strategies for dealing with these challenges. The contributors speak authoritatively—either having experienced incarceration or worked with those who have. A whole section of the book is devoted to giving voice to the previously incarcerated and serves to humanize the adult learners in education programs. There is much to learn and benefit from in reading this book. I highly recommend for educators and those committed to social justice alike. -- Talmadge C. Guy, University of Georgia, Emeritus
Chaney and Schwartz have assembled a must-read primer on Black males and the prison system. The collection of writings expose the reader to the depth and breadth of this complex social phenomenon… Read this book—and be prepared to have your assumptions challenged! -- Dionne Rosser-Mims, Troy University
Reentry can be a very ambiguous term in the landscape of criminal justice reform. There has not been a consensus of what reentry means or its application in society. The only thing that can be agreed is a serious need for reentry services, but what that is or its implementation is anyone’s guess. But reading Race, Education, and Reintegrating Formerly Incarcerated Citizens: Counterstories and Counterspaces, edited by John R. Chaney and Joni Schwartz, has provided a way forward to begin to think anew about reentry and how to best serve the ever growing ranks of the formerly incarcerated. Years from now we will look at this book as the starting point of a collective effort to define reentry in the years to come. -- Kingsley A. Rowe, New York University
Table of ContentsForeword, Elliott Dawes Acknowledgments Introduction, John R. Chaney and Joni Schwartz Part 1: Context, Critical Race Theory, and College Re-Entry Chapter 1: Schooling for Prison: Incarceration for Poverty, Michael Holzman Chapter 2: Education Outside of the Box, Cory Feldman Chapter 3: Do I want to be a 30 Percenter or 70 Percenter?: Black Cultural Privilege, Tony Gaskew Chapter 4: No Dismantling with the Master’s Tools: The Problem of Privilege in Criminal Justice Education, Colleen P. Eren Chapter 5: Writing into Being and Post Incarceration, Joni Schwartz Part 2: Counterstories Chapter 6: On the Other Side: The Reengagement of Formerly Incarcerated Students, Michael Baston and Brian Miller Chapter 7: Mentoring: Compassion without Condescension, Joshua Halberstam and Tiheba Bain Chapter 8: Short-Term to Long Term Incarceration and Educational Re-Engagement: A Comparative Case Study, Dwayne Simpson, Davon T. Harris, and John R. Chaney Chapter 9: A New Normal: Young Men of Color: Trauma & Engagement in Learning, Carlyle Van Thompson and Paul J. Schwartz Chapter 10: Epiphany of a Prodigal Son: An Autoethnography, John R. Chaney Part 3: Counterspaces Chapter 11: Returning to School after Incarceration: Policy, Prisoners and the Classroom, Brian Miller, Joserichsen Mondesir, Timothy Stater, and Joni Schwartz Chapter 12: Infinite Space and Common Ground: The Humble Wisdom of Scholar-Allies, Norman Conti and Elaine Frantz Chapter 13: A College Initiative Success Story, Terrance Coffie and John R. Chaney Chapter 14: High School Equivalency as Counterspace, Joni Schwartz Chapter 15: Creating Counterspaces in College: LaGuardia Community College’s Correctional Education Initiative, Jane MacKillop
