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This 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 Critical Race Theory with the field of re-entry and offering serious analysis of post incarceration and education initiatives. Interest convergence, white privilege, and writing from returning citizens as a way of "coming to voice" are also explored in this section.
Part 2, "Counterstories," offers case, comparative case, and phenomenological studies that include embedded quotations with first-person narratives contributed from formerly incarcerated students and graduates. This section also includes an honest and gripping analytic auto-ethnography from the book's co-editor who readily reveals his experiences as both a faculty member and formerly incarcerated individual. Other highlighted topics include the issues of stigma, overcoming obstacles in the classroom, and the unique problems for returning citizens when acclimating to college culture.
Combining qualitative research and descriptions of successful programs Part 3,"Counterspaces," explores the dynamics of creating places within programs and classrooms that support physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual engagement for and with the formerly incarcerated through learner-centered, culturally sensitive, and racially explicit pedagogy. This book is designed to be a most welcome addition to any serious academic discussion focusing upon institutionalized racism and education's use as a tool in reversing the mass incarceration of people of color in America.
List of contents
Foreword, 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
About the author
John R. Chaney is assistant professor and director of Criminal Justice programs for City University of New York -- LaGuardia Community College.Joni Schwartz is professor of humanities at the City University of New York – LaGuardia Community College and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice Graduate Studies Program.John R. Chaney is assistant professor and director of Criminal Justice programs for City University of New York -- LaGuardia Community College.Tony Gaskew is professor of criminal justice, affiliate faculty of Africana studies, director of the criminal justice program, and founding director of the prison education program at the University of Pittsburgh, Bradford.Joni Schwartz is professor of humanities at the City University of New York – LaGuardia Community College and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice Graduate Studies Program.
