An inside look at the struggles former prisoners face in reentering
society
Every year, roughly 650,000 people prepare to reenter society after
being released from state and federal prisons. In Halfway House, Liam
Martin shines a light on their difficult journeys, taking us behind the
scenes at Bridge House, a residential reentry program near Boston,
Massachusetts.
Drawing on three years of research, Martin explores the obstacles these
former prisoners face in the real world. From drug addiction to poverty,
he captures the ups and downs of life after incarceration in vivid,
engaging detail. He shows us what, exactly, it is like to live in a
halfway house, giving us a rare, up-close view of its role in a dense
and often confusing web of organizations governing prisoner reentry.
Martin asks us to rethink the possibilities--and pitfalls--of using
halfway houses to manage the worst excesses of mass incarceration. A
portrait of life in the long shadow of the carceral state, Halfway
House lets us see the struggles of reentry through the eyes of former
prisoners.