WASHINGTON (March 20, 2019) – The Ronald W. Walters Leadership and Policy Center, in coordination with the Department of Political Science, will host a book review and signing, Wednesday, March 20, beginning at 5:30 p.m., for Convicted & Condemned: The Politics and Policies of Prisoner Reentry (NYU Press, 2017), written by associate professor of political science Keesha Middlemass, Ph.D. The event will take place at the Howard University Bookstore, located at 2225 Georgia Avenue Northwest.

"The Walters Center is pleased to work with the Department of Political Science to produce this event,” says Michael Fauntroy, Ph.D., acting director of the Walters Center and associate professor of political science. “Dr. Middlemass is one of America’s foremost experts on the difficulties men and women reentering society face after being incarcerated. Her research shows the many ways in which public policy fails to provide a level playing field for vulnerable people seeking to rebuild their lives. Anyone impacted by or interested in prisoner reentry should attend this event."

Convicted & Condemned, winner of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists’ W. E. B. DuBois Distinguished Book Award, makes a significant interdisciplinary contribution to the study of prisoner reentry, politics, public policies and race. According to Middlemass, the text weaves together personal narratives with public policies, demonstrating how the politics of crime create substantial barriers for individuals attempting to reenter society after serving time in prison.

“Reentering society after serving time in prison is hard, and public policies, which use a felony conviction to restrict access to public benefits and employment opportunities, makes reentry even more difficult,” explains Middlemass, who uses detailed interviews and archival research within her book to show how a felony conviction leads to homelessness, inadequate education opportunities and a lack of legal jobs. 

Middlemass considers the book a holistic approach to prisoner reentry; by tapping into unexplored areas and personal experiences related to reentry, specifically, the immediate and long-term consequences of public policies impacting men and women convicted of a felony become readily apparent. While researching and writing Convicted & Condemned, Middlemass' participants experienced various degrees of food insecurity. She is currently expounding upon these findings to examine the impacts of food insecurity on reentry efforts and its impact on other marginalized populations.

“Prisoner reentry and how a felony conviction is used outside of the criminal justice system is an important public issue that needs to be addressed at the local, state and national levels. Reentry is not simply one step; due to fact that someone's felony conviction is searchable in public and private databases, reentry is a continuous process. As a result, men and women have different needs as they move from being a prisoner to living a crime-free life,” she says. Her research on the subject is published in Aggressive Behavior, Criminal Justice & Behavior, The Prison Journal, Punishment & Society and International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Convicted & Condemned: The Politics and Policies of Prisoner Reentry is available for purchase via Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo and Barnes & Noble. For more information, visit nypress.org.

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About Howard University

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service and has produced four Rhodes Scholars, 11 Truman Scholars, two Marshall Scholars, one Schwarzman Scholar, over 70 Fulbright Scholars and 22 Pickering Fellows. Howard also produces more on-campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu.

Media contact: Ramzey Smith, Office of University Communications, Ramzey.smith@howard.edu