Community Based-Reentry: Risk and Reward of Space and Social Networking

• In Event: Risk-Taking, Boundary-Breaking and Edgework in the Study of Deviance and Crime

Abstract

Successful prisoner reentry relies heavily on a multitude of variables including employment opportunities, supportive families, and safe housing. However, for women and men transitioning from prison to society, community based-reentry programs are vital in the early stages of this process. This paper explores ethnographic research of a community based-reentry organization in Newark, New Jersey, which is the first stop for women and men coming home. The space is used for formal networking. Yet, informal relationships and networks develop even though prohibited, but essential in the reentry process. Utilizing Bourdieu’s social capital and Merton’s intended and unintended consequences, this paper will address how reentry is a complicated and complex system of formal and informal pathways to success. In other words, many who are reentering society must engage in various forms of risk to remain free.

Author

• CalvinJohn Smiley, CUNY Hunter College