ABSTRACT
People reentering society frequently come in contact with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs are increasingly attractive to policy-makers, who task them with managing criminalized people. This chapter examines NGOs’ relationships with penal state agencies to assess claims in the critical penological literature that depict NGOs as extensions of the penal state. Based on interviews, observations, and documentary data, this chapter examines 18 NGOs in Wisconsin. The NGOs are categorized based on how they are positioned as subordinates of penal state agencies (hierarchy) and the degree to which they view the state as a target of advocacy or interlocutor (closeness). The results highlight how organizations resist the pull of the penal state and how others challenge the state and deliberately avoid contact with government agencies.
