Overview

A remarkable work of scholarship and reportage by a noted sociologist that will forever change how we look at life after prison Each year, more than half a million Americans are released from prison and join a population of twenty million people who must live with a felony record. Reuben Miller, a chaplain at the Cook County Jail in Chicago and later a sociologist studying mass incarceration, spent years alongside prisoners, ex-prisoners, their friends, and their families to understand the lifelong burden that a single arrest can entail. What his work revealed is a simple, if overlooked truth: life after incarceration is its own form of prison. The idea that one can serve their debt and return to life as a full-fledge member of society is one of America's most nefarious myths. Recently released individuals are faced with the new reality of jobs that are off-limits, apartments that cannot be occupied and votes that cannot be cast. As The Color of Law exposed about our understanding of housing segregation, Halfway Home shows that the American justice system was not created to rehabilitate, but is in fact structured to keep a particular class of people impoverished, unstable, and disenfranchised long after they've paid their debt to society. This invaluable work of scholarship, deftly informed by Miller's experience as the son and brother of incarcerated men, captures the stories of the men, women, and communities fighting against a system that is designed for them to fail. It is a poignant and eye-opening call to arms that reveals how laws, rules, and regulations extract a tangible cost not only from those working to rebuild their lives, but also our democracy. As Miller searchingly writes, America must acknowledge and value the lives of its formerly imprisoned citizens.

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9781549108129

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Reviews

Halfway Home is a must read for anyone seeking to understand this American crisis, which should be all of us. -- H. Luke Shaefer, co-author of $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America

[A] beautifully written, stunning, and deeply painful reckoning with our nation's carceral system. -- Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Miller's well-argued book delivers a scarifying account of law gone awry. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Striking a unique balance between memoir and sociological treatise, this bracing account makes clear just how high the deck is stacked against the formerly incarcerated. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Halfway Home is a must read for anyone seeking to understand this American crisis, which should be all of us. -- H. Luke Shaefer, co-author of $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America

Author Information

Reuben Jonathan Miller is an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago in the School of Social Service Administration. Before coming to Chicago, he was an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan, a faculty affiliate with the Populations Studies Center, the Program for Research on Black Americans, and in the Department of Afro-American and African Studies. In 2016, he was selected as a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, NJ. Cary Hite has performed in several theaters across the country as a cast member in the longest-running African American play in history, The Diary of Black Men. He also appeared in Edward II, Fences, Macbeth, Good Boys, Side Effects May Vary, and the indie feature The City Is Mine. He has voiced several projects for AudibleKids, including Souls Look Back in Wonder, From Slave Ship to Freedom Road, and Papa, Do You Love Me?

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