Here at Shawangunk Correctional Facility, a small maximum security prison in upstate New York, I am part of a nine-month reentry programme called Project Build. Every Friday morning, we gather around long, wooden tables and talk about who we were when we committed our crimes, and who we are striving to become, according to the Tribune News Service.

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend the graduation for the 2024-2025 group. At the event, one of the speakers, who was formerly incarcerated, informed the crowd that we — the nation’s past and present prisoners — were “civilly dead.” I wasn’t familiar with the concept, but I was intrigued to learn more.

Civil death ensures that prisoners and felons are stripped of basic rights, like voting, that are otherwise granted to them by the Constitution. They can live in a democracy, but cannot participate. After the Civil War, these rules were enshrined in the Constitution........

© The Frontier Post (Editorial)