Register here

After Jail, Before Freedom tells the story of five men who get out of prison and try to stay out. Joined together by their experience in a writing class at the Richmond City Jail, which led to their first book, Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail, this sequel picks up where their stories left off: With each man trying to figure out how to stay free. It is an onerous journey marked by the stigma of a felony conviction, racial discrimination, unstable living conditions, the allure of addiction, enduring trauma, ongoing problems with the criminal justice system, the promise of change, and, at times, the reality of it.

About the Speaker

David Coogan, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University, the founder of Open Minds, a college program in the Richmond City Jail, and the author of Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail (2015), written with ten formerly incarcerated men, and the director of a criminal justice diversion program based on that book.