March 2002

The third meeting of the Roundtable focused on the role of the institutions of civil society in creating barriers and bridges to the successful reintegration of former prisoners. This Roundtable focused on democratic participation, the public's attitude toward prisoner reentry and specifically, employers' attitudes toward hiring formerly incarcerated people, and the role of social institutions, such as churches, in the reentry process.

Meeting Summary

Prisoner Reentry and the Institutions of Civil Society: Bridges and Barriers to Successful Integration

Commissioned papers for the Roundtable

Barriers to Democratic Participation (Christopher Uggen)

Religion, Reform, Community: Examining the Idea of Church-based Prisoner Reentry (Omar McRoberts)

Can Employers Play a More Positive Role in Prisoner Reentry? (Harry Holzer, Michael A. Stoll, and Steven Raphael)

The Revolving Door: Exploring Public Attitudes toward Prisoner Reentry (John Immerwahr and Jean Johnson)

This Roundtable was funded by the Open Society Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.