Prior to reading this book and this chapter in particular, I had never really thought of what happens to felons once they are released from prison. I think I can speak for mostly everyone in this class when I say that as a result of the media and society focusing so much on the events leading up to an individual getting into prison, we seldom think of what happens when they get out. On one hand, I could certainly see how (not to sound harsh) the public/media/society wouldn’t care; after all, these individuals are convicted felons that had to have done something to warrant their arrest. However, after reading the chapter I also feel that the government has made it unnecessarily difficult for them to get back on their feet. After all, they are still human beings and paid the price for their actions. It becomes a question of whether it is ethical or not to take someone’s right to vote away, suspend a driver’s license, and to discriminate against them for certain jobs among many other things. Fitting back into society after being released from prison is way more of a task than it should be.

While reading, I also remembered an article in the newspaper that I read two weeks ago. After 38 years in prison, David Bryant was finally released after being wrongly convicted of raping an 8-year-old girl (he was 18 at the time). Rather than explaining the entire story, I will attach the article for anyone who wants to read it, but I couldn’t help but think of how this man’s life is going to be now that he is out of prison. Sure, he is different than what Alexander is talking about in The New Jim Crow because Bryant was wrongly convicted, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to struggle just like the others. He even says, “I don’t have a mother, or brother, or sister. I don’t have any place to go. I don’t have a dime to my name. What am I going to do? I still don’t know.” He never learned to drive a car, open a bank account, and I can only imagine that although he didn’t do it, he will not be looked at the same way. Being convicted for rape is not exactly something pleasant. Society often looks down on convicted rapists – innocent or guilty. This poor man’s life and the lives of all those who are released after incarceration will never be the same.