Section 2: Violence During and After Incarceration

• DOI: 10.1177/10439862221096896
• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Date: 01 May 2022

https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862221096896

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2022, Vol. 38(2) 192

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/10439862221096896

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Essay

Section 2: Violence During

and After Incarceration

Essays:

A Violent Breed, by Ethan Macks

Cycle Breakers: How People, Not Systems, Are Ending the Cycle of Violence in

Prison and Society, by Matthew Moeller

In Between the Sword and the Pen, by Troy Brownlow

Violence as a Means Of Everyday Survival, by Durrell Malik Washington Sr.

VIOLENCE: The Invisible Bars, by Erik Maloney

What Happened to a Second Chance for Bobby Bostic? by Bobby Bostic

Introduction

The writers in this section describe the violence they encountered after their convic-

tion: violence in the criminal sentencing process, violence within the prison walls, and

violence that followed them out of incarceration and back home.

Macks traces the violence he encounters while incarcerated through people’s lives

long before they are sentenced to prison, showing how fear and insecurity perpetuate

a culture of violence that is difficult to ever escape from. Moeller contrasts the vio-

lence in prison with the everyday acts of kindness, restoration and violence interrup-

tion he witnesses in his Minnesota prison. Brownlow draws upon his experience as a

mental health peer counselor to reflect on the difficult journey for those labeled “vio-

lent offender” amidst the broader context of a society that has long valorized and relied

on violence. Washington presents an analysis of violence as a means of everyday sur-

vival, bridging his experience with incarceration to his current role as a researcher and

PhD student. Maloney details a racist encounter in his teens that quickly spirals into

violence and incarceration, painting a stark picture of how violence has surrounded

him “like invisible bars” his entire life. Bostic concludes this section by asking a

deceptively simple question: why doesn’t he deserve a second chance?

These writers remind us that violence takes myriad forms and is always rooted in

context. Structured by power and survival, these essays show easily the line is blurred

between violence perpetuated by people and violence perpetuated by the state.

1096896CCJXXX10.1177/10439862221096896Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

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