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The reentry class he took in prison was “garbage,” he said. Several men he served time with ended up living in their cars or in the woods. Another resorted to selling drugs. “I see why people keep coming back,” said Allen, 51, “because they make it so hard for guys to navigate through life.” The fight to have Allen’s sentence commuted led to the formation of Second Chance Justice at the Massachusetts Communities Action Network to reform the state’s reentry system. Massachusetts prides itself as a progressive state committed to equity and social justice, said William Dickerson, MCAN’s co-executive director, but when it comes to incarceration, the state has long had a punitive “law and order” approach. “Our whole mentality has to change,” he said.