CalvinJohn Smiley

Dr. CalvinJohn Smiley received his Ph.D. in Sociology, with a Certificate in Africana Studies, from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) in March 2014. Dr. Smiley’s dissertation, entitled Existing But Not Living: Civil Death and the Carceral State, is a qualitative study of his work, through a community-based prisoner reentry organization, with men and women in Newark, NJ, and their challenges as they seek to reenter society. In addition, this study explores ways in which the notion of citizenship is constructed with a criminal record in the United States. Dr. Smiley’s research focuses on prisoner reentry, inequality, restorative justice, and the impact of mass incarceration on poor communities.