By Nomi Sofer

I am deeply saddened to share the George Halfkenny, one of the four Voices of Reentry storytellers, died last week at the age of 54. George was smart, funny, and a trenchant observer of the way structural racism and mass incarceration shaped his life and the lives of millions of other Black men and boys. He was a gifted writer, and he once told me that he would have liked to be a filmmaker. I met George in 2019, when he agreed to participate in the documentary film I was developing. Getting to know George was a privilege: Onscreen and off, he shared his experience with honesty and vulnerability, and he was a strong believer in the healing power of storytelling.

In his 40s, George became a restorative justice practitioner, and he was the co-founder of THRIVE Communities, a nonprofit in Lowell, MA, that practices restorative reentry as it empowers communities to welcome and support their neighbors returning from incarceration. As part of the impact campaign for Voices of Reentry, George participated in many community conversations, and he never missed an opportunity to explain the power of communities that welcome neighbors returning from incarceration. Sadly, George experienced very little of that welcome: He struggled to find stable housing and meaningful work, and in the past year his health deteriorated, as he contended with heart disease, diabetes, and complications from a lifetime of inadequate health care.

We didn’t see each other in person often, but we spent many hours on the phone, checking up on one another and making plans. When we talked, his updates were often disheartening. But no matter how challenging his circumstances, George’s sharp sense of humor and ability to cut through conventional pieties never left him, and every conversation left me feeling grateful to have George as a friend.

Get to know George by reading the opinion piece we co-authored, or arranging a screening of Voices of Reentry.