Walking with the Excluded: Conversations for Impact
This spring, Thrive for Life held a three-part series of events connected by the theme of Walking with the Excluded, one of the Jesuits’ Universal Apostolic Preferences. These Conversations for Impact brought together authors, professors, and formerly incarcerated individuals in thoughtful dialogues about the links between incarceration, education, and reentry, and we collectively examined both past and future to determine how far we have come and how far we still have to go to ensure that every incarcerated individual finds the support they need to successfully reenter society and truly thrive for life.
Fireside Chat: Education & Incarceration
In this discussion, experts from Thrive for Life and its Ignacio House of Studies joined George Chochos of the Vera Institute of Justice and Joshua Miller and Pietra Rivoli of Georgetown University's Pivot Program and Prison & Justice Initiative to discuss incarceration, education, reentry, and the recently restored Pell Grants. They took a critical look at the quality of education behind the walls, discussed best practices on allocating limited resources, and looked to the future to explore what work remains to be done.
Flip the Script: From the Streets to the Stage
The saying “The gift is near the wound” lay at the heart of this event, which created a space for formerly incarcerated men to share their powerful and deeply personal stories of trauma, realization, reconciliation, growth, and healing. This event was created in partnership with Flip the Script, a program that provides formerly incarcerated individuals with the tools to speak their truths through the medium of storytelling, and featured three resident scholars from our Ignacio House of Studies.
Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, & the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration
In our final Conversation for Impact, Thrive for Life invited author and sociologist Reuben Jonathan Miller to discuss his new book, Halfway Home. Informed by Miller’s experience as the son and brother of incarcerated men, Halfway Home captures the stories of the men, women, and communities fighting against a system that is designed for them to fail. Miller joined Thrive for Life’s founder, Zachariah F. Presutti, S.J., to explore his book and the issues that it raises about incarceration and its aftermath.