The Second Chance Club: Hardship and Hope After Prison

FBI agent and former Louisiana parole officer Hardy explores the successes and failures of the U.S. probation system in this affecting blend of memoir and sociological treatise. After entering the New Orleans District probation and parole office in 2013 with the intention of playing an active role in the “unwinding of mass incarceration,” Hardy quickly found that the system was severely underfunded and pulled in two diametrically opposed directions: “Purpose one was to put the offender back in jail. Purpose two was to keep him out.” He illustrates the system’s inadequacies and complexities through the experiences of seven of his more than 200 assigned parolees. The subjects include Sheila, an 18-year-old high school dropout arrested on obstruction-of-justice charges for flushing her boyfriend’s drug stash down the toilet as police served a warrant, who starts a job at Subway while self-medicating her depression with marijuana, and “Hard Head,” a 65-year-old homeless Vietnam War veteran and drug addict with six convictions and five parole revocations, who eventually finds hope through religion. According to Hardy, success within the current probation and parole system looks more like returning an offender to prison so he can get adequate mental health care, rather than complete rehabilitation. Hardy writes eloquently and treats everyone he encounters, from violent offenders and drug dealers to judges and colleagues, with empathy and accountability. The result is a revelatory account that threads the needle between exasperation and optimism. (Feb.)