Pathways to reentry: examining perspectives of returning citizens navigating life after prison

Abstract

Compared to other states, New Jersey represents many indicators of success toward criminal justice reform. New Jersey has one of the lowest state prison populations (over 10,000 incarcerated), with a rate of 341 per 100,000 people. On the other hand, however, the state has the highest black/white disparity in rates of incarceration (Nellis, 2021). While the overrepresentation of people of color incarcerated within the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) is a startling reality, these racial disparities underscore a grave problem that exists within the Garden State and beyond. According to a recent Prison Policy Initiative report (Widra et al., 2022), “six New Jersey counties are home to more than half of the state’s imprisoned population (p. 3).” Although these counties (Passaic, Essex, Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, and Cumberland) makeup less than thirty percent of the state’s population, they account for more than half of the incarcerated population in the NJDOC (Widra et al., 2022). This project is part of a larger qualitative study that aims to critically examine the perspectives and experiences of returning citizens in New Jersey from their own words to raise awareness among the public on the pains of imprisonment and reentry.