In partnership with Seminary Co-op Bookstores, International House will host Dr. Reuben Jonathan Miller, AM’07, Assistant Professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, as he speaks on his latest book Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration. Dr. Miller will be in conversation with Craig Futterman, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Dr. Miller, a chaplain at the Cook County Jail in Chicago and sociologist studying mass incarceration, spent years alongside prisoners, ex-prisoners, their friends, and their families to understand the lifelong burden that even 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 jobs that are off-limits, apartments that cannot be occupied, and votes that cannot be cast. Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration shows that the American justice system was not created to rehabilitate. Parole is structured to keep classes of Americans impoverished, unstable, and disenfranchised long after they’ve paid their debt to society.

All programs are free and open to the public. Additional Alumni Weekend packages with speciality items are also available to purchase. 

Presented by the International House Global Voices Lecture Series and Seminary Co-op Bookstores.