The Fortune Society has generously donated its extensive archives — a collection of internal documents, photos, videos, and published materials – to the Special Collections of Lloyd Sealy Library of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The Fortune Society is a nonprofit social service and advocacy organization whose mission is to support successful reentry from prison and promote alternatives to incarceration.
“David Rothenberg and his founding of The Fortune Society in 1967 ushered in a new era of an attitude toward punishment that emphasized methods of re-entry and reintegration of ex-prisoners into society, over retribution,” said Larry Sullivan, Associate Dean and Chief Librarian at John Jay College. “His movement and practices have grown to the point where they play the dominant role in dealing with the formerly incarcerated. The Society’s Papers are a most valuable addition to John Jay’s world renowned criminal justice special collections and criminal justice research resources.”
The Lloyd Sealy Library, which houses the foremost collection of criminal justice materials in the world, is a fitting repository for The Fortune Society’s records and documents. With this donation, the history of the Society will be accessible to the public, current and future John Jay students, and scholars interested in criminal justice and reentry.
To learn more about the donation, click here.
The Fortune Society’s mission is to help all who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated to become positive, contributing members of society. Fortune serves approximately 4,500 men and women annually via three primary New York City-area locations: the service center in Long Island City, and both the Fortune Academy (a.k.a. “the Castle”) and Castle Gardens in West Harlem. Its program models are frequently recognized, both nationally and internationally, for their quality and innovation.
The Lloyd Sealy Library at John Jay College of Criminal Justice holds more than 500,000 books, periodicals, films, microforms, and digital collections, representing a continuous effort to support the full range of John Jay College’s curriculum and educational mission. The Library is named after George Lloyd Sealy, the first black officer to hold top command positions in the New York City Police Department and a pioneering professor at John Jay. While all the disciplines that constitute the basis of a liberal arts collection are well represented, the main strength of the collection is its holdings in the social sciences and criminal justice, law, public administration and their related fields.
