A New Way of Life and the New Underground Railroad: Making a Break for Freedom During the Era of Mass Incarceration, produced by Chris Moore-Backman. 

Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, points to A New Way of Life Re-Entry Program in South Los Angeles as a model for the kind of bold initiative needed to build what she calls a "new underground railroad" -- a network of families, faith communities, and organizations dedicated to providing desperately needed support and love to those newly released from prison. 

This 29-minute radio documentary weaves together the voices of Michelle Alexander, Susan Burton (founder of A New Way of Life), and five residents of this remarkable re-entry program for women, showing the human face of those our society stigmatizes as "criminals" and illustrating the essential role of the emerging "new underground railroad" within the growing movement to dismantle the U.S. system of mass incarceration. 

The story shows the human face of those our society stigmatizes as "criminals," "felons," and "offenders," and sheds light on the tremendous hurdles they face upon release from prison, including the most basic and fundamental tasks of securing housing, work, and sobriety.   The show features interviews and ambient audio recorded on site at "A New Way of Life Reentry Project " and ties the emergence of the "new underground railroad" to the overarching movement to end mass incarceration.

This is a special edition of Stage & Studio which will be back the following week. 

For more info on this series visit: 

http://www.prx.org/pieces/98049-a-new-way-of-life-and-the-new-underground-railroad#description