Edward Orozco Flores, “Jesus Saved an Ex-Con”: Political Activism and Redemption after Incarceration

Abstract

American Religion 1, no. 2 (Spring 2020), pp. 139–141 Copyright © 2020, The Trustees of Indiana University • doi: 10.2979/amerreli.1.2.15 Book Review Edward Orozco Flores, “Jesus Saved an Ex-Con”: Political Activism and Redemption after Incarceration (New York: New York University Press, 2018) Brad Stoddard McDaniel College, Westminster, USA In “Jesus Saved an Ex-Con”, sociologist Edward Orozco Flores joins a growing chorus of scholars, activists, and theologians who argue that religious responses to mass incarceration and criminal justice reform more broadly help the formerly incarcerated not only regain their dignity and repair the damage caused by mass incarceration, but also, according to Orozco, “expand the boundaries of democratic inclusion to facilitate social integration” (2). To demonstrate this, Flores conducted qualitative, ethnographic research on two faith-based organizations (FBOs)—Community Renewal Society (CRS) from Chicago and LA Voice from Los Angeles—to document how these groups work with formerly incarcerated gang members both to inspire and nurture personal religiosity and to lobby for structural changes through criminal justice reform. Based on this research, Flores argues that faith-based community organizing fosters progressive prophetic activism or prophetic redemption for people furthest on the margins of American society and American democracy. Prophetic redemption, Flores argues, finds its roots in the Black Social Gospel and the work of sociologist and activist W. E. B. Du Bois, who argued that institutional factors like racism and racial segregation perpetuate poverty and impede socioeconomic mobility. Du Bois’s insights are particularly relevant today, where the formerly American Religion 1:2 140 incarcerated face legalized forms of discrimination that prevent them from voting , that prevent them from obtaining public assistance, and that make it difficult for them to find jobs. Du Bois’s arguments later influenced sociologists and criminologists, particularly the Chicago School of sociology, which provided intellectual support for the Age of Roosevelt crime control efforts that “shifted power to the elites, without regard for power building among the marginalized” (10). This shift enabled the rise of the surveillance state (as it relates to incarceration) and to punitive criminal justice policies. The Chicago School continues to study criminology, ignoring important work in the sociology of religion, which argues that civil religion continues to inspire both personal and political reform. Faith-based groups like CRS and LA Voice embrace this notion of civil religion as they fight for criminal justice reform, providing spaces for formerly incarcerated gang members to find meaning post-incarceration, to participate in democratic reforms, and to foster prophetic redemption. Flores begins the book by outlining the history of political and criminal justice reform that created a space for FBOs and community-based organizations (CBOs) to become more involved in criminal justice reform. This history includes Age of Reagan neoliberalism, the privatization of probation, and the emphasis on reentry. These changes gave FBOs and CBOs a seat at the proverbial table, where they advocated for insurgent grassroots resistance instead of topdown criminal justice reform. In the process, members of FBOs participated in religious and civic practices that helped give meaning to their incarceration and their lives more broadly, that fostered social acceptance, and that inspired them “to expand the boundaries of democratic inclusion” (66). In chapters four and five, Flores returns to the theme of prophetic redemption , first, where he argues that FBOs engaged in insurgent prophetic redemption that allowed them to draw from their experiences on the street, in gangs, and in recovery programs. These experiences provided rhetorics and strategies for community engagement and personal transformation that affected their organizational efforts. FBOs also engage in pastoral prophetic redemption as they foster a diverse and inclusive movement to engage the community in substantive reform. Flores also argues that FBOs’ efforts to engage their communities and their democracies created opportunities for “collective subjectivity and empowerment ” (161) by redefining their notions of manhood, masculinity, parenthood, and engaged citizenship. Flores concludes by summarizing his argument where he contends that scholars interested in criminal justice reform should concern themselves not only with personal claims or displays of religiosity, but with civil religion, where religious people organize for personal, communal, and political transformations. Brad Stoddard 141 “Jesus Saved an Ex-Con” is a well-researched...