The Connection Institute Co-Director Charles Barber recently published a book, Citizen Outlaw: One Man’s Journey from Gang Leader to Peacekeeper. The nonfiction book follows the journey of William Outlaw from housing project youth, to drug kingpin, to prisoner in the most notorious Federal correctional institutions across the country, and finally as an award-winning community advocate and violence interrupter on the same streets in New Haven that he once terrorized. Citizen Outlaw addresses challenges that The Connection’s programs address on a daily basis: issues of mass incarceration, the difficulties of reentering society, employment for returning citizens, and the role of peer mentors in reducing recidivism.

Citizen Outlaw has been featured in the national media, including The New York Times, The Today Show, and C-SPAN’s Book TV, and locally on Connecticut Public Radio. In the book, Barber cites the Institute’s study on the impact of peer mentors in turning lives around and enhancing public safety, soon to be published in the journal Criminal Justice and Behavior.

 

Top Photo: Charles Barber and William Outlaw, Wesleyan University, 2018