The Second Chance Club

November 15, 2019
A former parole officer illuminates numerous significant flaws in the American criminal justice system. After teaching high school English and then earning a master's degree, Hardy took a job as a parole officer in his hometown of New Orleans, which "has become emblematic of institutional decay in America." Carrying a gun and wearing a bulletproof vest, he spent most of his days in the poverty-stricken sections of New Orleans, checking on convicted criminals paroled after serving prison time. When not meeting with parolees, Hardy was dealing with clients on probation after they had been arrested and brought before a judge but before being incarcerated by the state of Louisiana, which was "the world's leading incarcerator" until 2018. The author understood that he would be paid modestly, work long hours, and encounter potentially dangerous situations. What he did not anticipate was the crushing case load: about 220 parolees and probationers, four times the number suggested by agency standards. To tell the narrative cohesively, Hardy focuses on seven of his clients--six men and one woman, black and white, all involved in some manner with illegal drugs. A few of the seven seem sincere about cleaning up, finding stable housing, and accepting minimum wage jobs that might lead to exiting probation or parole; the other clients show no real commitment to escaping the criminal justice system. Hardy quickly realized that budgetary constraints would severely limit the alternatives he could provide. In addition to telling the often harrowing stories of his clients, Hardy offers insights into police officers, social workers, prosecutors, judges, and, especially, his PO colleagues. In brief passages, he also illuminates how the relentlessly depressing job affects his life at home with his wife. After four years, Hardy resigned to become a special agent for the FBI. Throughout, the author is refreshingly candid with readers, who will realize that his ultimate goal is to prevent his clients from continued lives of crime, violence, or even death. A powerful, necessary book with revelatory passages on nearly every page.

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December 23, 2019
FBI agent and former Louisiana parole officer Hardy explores the successes and failures of the U.S. probation system in this affecting blend of memoir and sociological treatise. After entering the New Orleans District probation and parole office in 2013 with the intention of playing an active role in the “unwinding of mass incarceration,” Hardy quickly found that the system was severely underfunded and pulled in two diametrically opposed directions: “Purpose one was to put the offender back in jail. Purpose two was to keep him out.” He illustrates the system’s inadequacies and complexities through the experiences of seven of his more than 200 assigned parolees. The subjects include Sheila, an 18-year-old high school dropout arrested on obstruction-of-justice charges for flushing her boyfriend’s drug stash down the toilet as police served a warrant, who starts a job at Subway while self-medicating her depression with marijuana, and “Hard Head,” a 65-year-old homeless Vietnam War veteran and drug addict with six convictions and five parole revocations, who eventually finds hope through religion. According to Hardy, success within the current probation and parole system looks more like returning an offender to prison so he can get adequate mental health care, rather than complete rehabilitation. Hardy writes eloquently and treats everyone he encounters, from violent offenders and drug dealers to judges and colleagues, with empathy and accountability. The result is a revelatory account that threads the needle between exasperation and optimism.

Starred review from January 1, 2020

In an outstanding debut, Hardy, now an FBI agent, relays his experiences as a probation officer in New Orleans. He offers an immersive look at Louisiana's criminal justice system through the perspectives of seven parolees who were impacted by the retail drug trade. In each of the book's three parts--need, risk, and harm reduction--Hardy describes the daily life of a probation officer. What stands out are the compelling stories throughout, along with Hardy's sympathy for parolees and genuine insights into the root causes of street crime. Readers meet Damien, a cynical drug dealer, and Charles, Hardy's mentor and a fellow probation officer. The narrative follows the author's days in court and efforts visiting state offices in hopes of enacting reform. Along the way, Hardy profiles players in the system and offers solutions to the high recidivism rate (compared to outcomes in federal courts). VERDICT An insightful, impactful book for all social and criminal justice readers, and fans of Matthew Desmond's Evicted and Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day.--Harry Charles, St. Louis

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Starred review from January 1, 2020
Leaving unfulfilling work behind him and feeling somewhat idealistic, Hardy became a parole officer in New Orleans, his hometown, in 2013. Combining facts and figures with his own experiences during his four years on the job, Hardy's memoir follows several cases from the hundreds of offenders under his supervision. Damien is addicted to the drug game and the deceit that goes along with it. Vietnam vet Hard Head bounces around sober living facilities and tent cities. Kendrick has no diagnosis for the violent "click outs" he experiences. Especially at the book's outset, readers learn the job, its shortcuts and procedures, along with Hardy, who quickly understands that for all his idealism, he's in the disaster prevention business above all. Hardy illustrates the whole person behind each offender's story to profound effect. There are familiar uphill battles, and then there are these. Now an FBI special agent, he strikes a good balance of tone, too, sharing shattering disappointments and frustrations, like the extreme lack of rehabilitative services and the constant incremental gains and losses he and offenders must navigate, alongside his founded hopes and acknowledgement that national attitudes about mass incarceration seem to be shifting, finally, for good.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)