National Network for Equitable Library Service

Reuben Miller, a chaplain at the Cook County Jail in Chicago and later a sociologist studying mass incarceration, spent years alongside prisoners to understand the lifelong burden that a single arrest can entail. His work revealed that the idea one can serve their debt and return to society is a myth. Recently released individuals face jobs that are off-limits, apartments that cannot be occupied and votes that cannot be cast. Miller shows that the American justice system was structured to keep a particular class of people impoverished, unstable, and disenfranchised long after they've paid their debt to society.