In the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century,African Americans made up approximately twelve percent ofthe United States population but close to forty percent of the United States prison population. Now, in the latter half of the decade, the nation is in the midst of the largest multi-year discharge of prisoners in its history. In Releasing Prisoners, Redeeming Communities, Anthony C. Thompson discusses what is likely to happen to these ex-offenders and why.
For Thompson, any discussion of ex-offender reentry is, de facto, a question of race. After laying out the statistics, he identifies the ways in which media and politics have contributed to the problem, especially through stereotyping and racial bias. Well aware of the potential consequences if this country fails to act, Thompson offers concrete, realizable ideas of how our policies could, and should, change.

Anthony C. Thompson is Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law. He is a former Deputy Public Defender in Contra Costa County, California. He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Council for Crime and Delinquency in Oakland, California, and is Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Reentry Institute of John Jay College in New York City.