Race as a Carceral Terrain: Black Lives Matter Meets Reentry

• Published date: 01 September 2019
• Date: 01 September 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0032885519852062
• Subject Matter: Introduction to the Special Issue

852062TPJXXX10.1177/0032885519852062The Prison JournalWilliams
research-article2019
Introduction to the Special Issue
The Prison Journal
2019, Vol. 99(4) 387 –395
Race as a Carceral
© 2019 SAGE Publications
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Terrain: Black Lives
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https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885519852062
DOI: 10.1177/0032885519852062
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Matter Meets Reentry
Jason M. Williams1
Abstract
In the United States, racialized people are disproportionately selected for
punishment. Examining punishment discourses intersectionally unearths
profound, unequal distinctions when controlling for the variety of victims’
identities within the punishment regime. For example, trans women of color
are likely to face the harshest of realties when confronted with the prospect
of punishment. However, missing from much of the academic carceral
literature is a critical perspective situated in racialized epistemic frameworks.
If racialized individuals are more likely to be affected by punishment systems,
then, certainly, they are the foremost experts on what those realities are
like. The Black Lives Matter hashtag came about during the aftermath
of the George Zimmerman non-verdict in the killing of Trayvon Martin,
and it helped to cultivate the organization which turned into a multiracial
international movement in defense of Black dignity and humanity. While
Black Lives Matter was initially inspired by police violence, it has expanded
its reach to include causes beyond police malpractice and brutality. This
special issue of The Prison Journal seeks to merge principles associated with
Black Lives Matter (as noted on their website) with critical issues endemic
to community reentry after incarceration and the racialized and gendered
impediments it produces. The empirical pieces included are qualitative to
reflect the epistemologies of the affected, as we believe that narratives
more powerfully capture these hard-to-reach (or deviant in comparison
1Montclair State University, NJ, USA
Corresponding Author:
Jason M. Williams, Department of Justice Studies, Montclair State University, 326 Dickson
Hall, 1 Normal Ave., Montclair, NJ 07043, USA.
Email: williamsjas@mail.montclair.edu

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The Prison Journal 99(4)
to the norm) perspectives. This special issue includes articles that critically
foreground the voices of formerly incarcerated citizens (including some
who are mothers and fathers) and reentry service providers. Importantly, it
provides suggestions for new directions in reimagining a more democratic
and racially equitable society without current punishment regimes.
Keywords
intersectionality, Black Lives Matter, reentry, racialized punishment,
motherhood, fatherhood
Introduction
Prisoner reentry or reintegration are common terms operationalized by aca-
demic criminologists to denote one’s transition from incarceration to the
community. However, critical scholars have cautioned using terms that are
not aligned with the lived experiences of those navigating these terrains (see,
for example, Thompkins, 2010). Inherent in the term reentry is the assump-
tion of freedom. In contrast, seminal research on such issues continues to
document that many “clients” caught up in processes of reentry are not living
freed lives (Hattery & Smith, 2010; Middlemass, 2017; Petersilia, 2003;
Travis, 2000; Travis & Waul, 2003). Indeed, commentators continue to draw
the conclusion that race is a major determinant of one’s experience in and out
of prison (Alexander, 2010). Just as Black Lives Matter has taken issue with
police violence, the organization and Movement is also addressing issues of
the carceral state. And, the State’s disproportionate occupation with Black
bodies is not only historic (see, for example, Muhammad, 2010; and for a
gendered perspective, Davis, 1981), it is a factor worth unpacking from the
perspective of those who must live it under the context of reentry.
During the reemergence of conservative ideology in criminal justice pol-
icy during the 1980s, the pendulum swung away from rehabilitative ideals
inspired by civil and human rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s
(Hudson, 1993). Emerging ideological and theoretical frameworks of this era
helped to establish the neoliberal, actuarial models of justice and punishment
administration in practice today (Alexander, 2010; Wacquant, 2009; Western,
2006). The 1980s wave of reformation sowed seeds of conservative radical-
ism, embracing rational choice theories of criminal offending and a belief in
hyper-individualism that insured individual decision-making processes were
not related to macro-level factors. Such significant changes in criminal jus-
...