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Reentry after release from incarceration is often presented as a story of redemption. Unfortunately, this is not the reality. Those being released must navigate the reentry process with diminished legal rights and amplified social stigmas, in a journey that is often confusing, complex, and precarious. Making use of life-history interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic fieldwork with low-income urban residents of color, primarily Black men, Calvin John Smiley finds that reentry requires the recently released to negotiate a web of disjointed and often contradictory systems that serve as an extension of the carceral system. No longer behind bars but not fully free, the recently released navigate a state of limbo that deprives them of opportunity and support while leaving them locked in a cycle of perpetual punishment. Warning of the dangers of reformist efforts that only serve to further entrench carceral systems, Purgatory Citizenship advocates for abolitionist solutions rooted in the visions of the people most affected.
"Purgatory Citizenship is one of the first scholarly texts that explicitly focuses, connects, and ends with the viability and applicability of abolitionist dimensions to reentry."
"Purgatory Citizenship deftly employs an ethnography of liminal citizenship from the vantage point of those in the process of reentry from the criminal justice system. . . . Smiley’s beautifully written narrative depicts how efforts toward reintegration are often stymied by structural and systemic racial and income barriers that prevent full citizenship, as reintegration falsely implies there is full citizenship to regain."
"Purgatory Citizenship is a valuable introduction to contemporary issues around prisoner reentry for those who are new to the topic and a refreshing addition to those who have been working (as researchers or practitioners) in the area."
"Purgatory Citizenship is a well-researched, well-written, and understandable read. It is undoubtedly thought-provoking, as Smiley’s conclusion, after interacting with many reentry clients over three years, is that the most logical path for reentry is to abolish prisons, so the reentry process is unnecessary."
Calvin John Smiley is Associate Professor of Sociology at Hunter College–City University of New York.
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Underdevelopment
2. Purgatory
3. Halfway
4. Body
5. Space 1
6. Abolition
Notes
Bibliography
Index