As we consider how to not be the nation with the highest incarceration rate, there’s still a lot of work to be done in finding effective ways to reintegrate those who’ve been locked up into the outside world. Freedom alone doesn’t give people who’ve served their time much of a chance if they’re “freed” with most of the same problems that got them there, plus some new problems, into a world years or decades advanced from the one they had trouble dealing with in the first place.
Here’s a personal take on the topic, an imagining of how recidivism might feel.
If you’ve been around a while, perhaps you’ll recall the song title’s brief appearance in an issue of American Songwriter magazine last year. “Life at 61” received an honorable mention in one of their lyric contests.