Before her conviction, K.B. worked at a daycare. She loved being around kids, especially her own. Her son got straight As and perfect attendance in school and was the first in the family to go to college. Her two twin girls are cheerleaders. Supporting them was K.B.’s biggest goal in life, and she did it as a single mom. But after her conviction, she could no longer work at the daycare; she had to get a job at a factory working longer hours for less pay. This meant spending more time away from her children. She was kicked out of her Section 8 housing and put in jail for not informing them of her conviction. K.B.’s family was forced to move to a less-safe neighborhood, where there are frequent drive-by shootings, as a result.
But because K.B. served no jail time, she was at least able to find employment—finding a job is typically more difficult after being released from prison. For example, D.M. was arrested when police found drugs and a gun in his car during a “traffic stop.” Already having been convicted of a crime, D.M. pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. As he told the police during his post-arrest interview, D.M. couldn’t find any employment after his first conviction. His kids needed schoolbooks, so he went back to selling drugs instead. He knew he was risking more jail time but felt he had no other choice.
Incarceration, Release, and Recidivism
What K.B. and D.M have gone through is far from rare. The struggles of reentering citizens are the result of a system that allocates too many resources to incarcerating them and then abandons them once they are released. With over two million people behind bars at any given moment, the United States incarcerates more people per capita than anywhere else in the world—629 people per 100,000. Neighbor Canada only incarcerates 78 people per 100,000. The United States spends exorbitant amounts of money incarcerating people. In 2010, states spent approximately $48.5 billion on correctional systems. Approximately 1 in 28 children in the United States has an incarcerated parent.
Every year, more than 600,000 people are released from state and federal prisons across the country. But what happens after they’re released? Unfortunately, many people go right back into the system. According to data published by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, of state prisoners released in 2012 across 34 states, 62 percent were rearrested within three years and 71 percent were rearrested within five years. Forty-six percent of them returned to prison within five years. Matthew R. Durose & Leonardo Antenangeli, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 34 States in 2012: A 5-Year Follow-Up Period (2012–2017), NCJ 255947 (Bureau of Just. Stat. July 2021). These alarming recidivism rates trace back to one of the most important predictors of post-release success: meaningful employment. Aside from basic shelter and food, meaningful employment in high-quality jobs may be the most vital component of reentry assistance. This is supported by substantial data collected by the DOJ and criminal justice reform institutes.
Post-incarceration Unemployment and Its Consequence
Formerly incarcerated individuals face an unemployment rate five times higher than that of the general population. Lucius Couloute & Daniel Kopf, Out of Prison & Out of Work: Unemployment Among Formerly Incarcerated People, Prison Pol’y Initiative (July 2018). In fact, the unemployment rate is higher than the total U.S. unemployment rate during any historical period, including the Great Depression. In a study conducted by the DOJ, 33 percent of those released from federal prison did not find employment in the 16 quarters following their release from 2010 to 2014. Ann E. Carson et al., Employment of Persons Released from Federal Prison in 2010, NCJ 303147 (Bureau of Just. Stat. Dec. 2021). Other studies show that in state systems, only 45 percent of formerly incarcerated individuals were employed eight months after release. Cristy Visher, Sara Debus & Jennifer Yahner, Employment After Prison: A Longitudinal Study of Releases in Three States (Urb. Inst. Just. Pol’y Ctr. 2008).
Data further show that the most common source of financial support for reentering citizens two months after release was family and friends (66 percent), whereas only a third of the survey participants derived income from legal employment. The failure of these individuals to find employment was not likely because they didn’t try. In fact, survey data show that 79 percent of respondents actively searched for work within two months of their release. Unfortunately, not everyone has a familial support system waiting for them when they get out of prison. Most face numerous hurdles in finding a job.
One of the largest barriers for those seeking meaningful employment following incarceration is the hiring process itself. Many job applications require individuals to disclose felony convictions. Patrick A. Langan & David J. Levin, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994, NCJ 193427 (Bureau of Just. Stat. June 2002). Most employers may have an inherent reluctance to hire ex-offenders. This may stem from fear of crime in the workplace, lack of reliability, or the high cost of possible higher employee turnover.
For example, a Texas man named J.D. was able to find a job following his incarceration, but quickly found out that keeping the job wasn’t so easy. Before his first period of incarceration, J.D. worked as a trucker for his uncle’s business. He was arrested and served time on a cocaine offense. Thereafter, he was prohibited from having a trucker license because of his criminal record. Nevertheless, after his release, he was able to get a job doing what he loves: coaching basketball at the local YMCA. He excelled, until the YMCA found out about his conviction and fired him immediately. Out of desperation, J.D. resorted to selling cocaine again and was ultimately rearrested. A man who was perfectly qualified to coach and had no disciplinary problems at work is now sitting in a small, overcrowded county jail in northeast Texas once again. He’s been there for the last three and a half years awaiting trial and teaching his fellow inmates basketball during their two-hour-per-week recreation period.
The problem of having to disclose one’s criminal record is compounded by other obstacles many incarcerated people face before and after prison. Only 60 percent of state and federal inmates have a high school degree or GED. One-third of them have a physical or mental disability, and over half used drugs in the month leading up to their arrest. Visher, Debus & Yahner, supra. Those who struggled to find employment before prison because of these issues don’t have an employer to go back to or a reference for a new job once they are released.
The consequences of unemployment for reentering citizens are severe. Without a steady job, these individuals cannot afford to pay rent, provide for their children, obtain health insurance, or take college courses to make themselves more competitive applicants. If they’re on probation, they may not have the money to travel to the probation office for their required, periodic check-ins, making probation violations (and, therefore, further incarceration) more likely.
While survival is of the utmost importance to reentering citizens, there are other reasons why finding meaningful employment is crucial to an individual’s post-prison success. It is important for reentering citizens to find a sense of community support, while simultaneously developing skills and finding opportunities to become self-sufficient. Employment provides both structure and community. Many people need a schedule to feel organized and calm in their lives. Gainful, meaningful employment helps boost self-esteem and promote autonomy and independence. While our work is not necessarily the full measure of our value as human beings, the positive contributions we make to society go far in establishing a sense of pride in ourselves. To persons who have had their freedom stripped from them and have been forced to depend on the penal system for even the most basic needs, the boost in self-esteem they can get from being in control of their life can be transformative and liberating.
Employment also helps fulfill a person’s inherent need for social interaction. During the pandemic, we learned the importance of social relationships in the workplace. Friendships formed with co-workers can prove to be some of the strongest and most meaningful relationships we have. Many jobs also provide an opportunity for interaction with customers, clients, and other members of the public. For reentering citizens, who spent months or years being shunned and judged by the general public, these social interactions can be both grounding and reaffirming of values, attitudes, and opinions.
Employing Ex-offenders—A Win-Win
Employment opportunities for reentering citizens should be plentiful. Help wanted signs are everywhere—in convenience stores, restaurants, delivery service windows, and elsewhere. As COVID transmissions continue to drop, mask mandates are rescinded, and consumers begin returning to restaurants and other pre-COVID consumption habits, the need for competent and reliable employees will only increase. Economic News Release, U.S. Bureau of Lab. Stat., The Employment Situation—December 2021, USDL-22-0015 (Jan. 7, 2022).
A reentering citizen’s need for employment may actually make them less risky employees. Many reentering citizens are emerging from facilities where rule compliance and adherence to a rigorous structure were required. Their need to provide for basic needs like shelter, food, and sustenance, or perhaps to satisfy the requirements of probation or supervised release, tends to promote compliance with conditions of employment, reliability, and job loyalty. Jena McGregor, Why Former Felons May Be Good Employees, Wash. Post, May 6, 2016. They need their jobs in order to survive and provide for their families and don’t want to risk unemployment. This has been a problem for many employers lately, as voluntary resignations are at an all-time high. Paul Davidson, Great Resignation: The Number of People Quitting Jobs Hit an All-Time High in November as Openings Stayed Near Record, USA Today, Jan. 4, 2022. The question is, what can employers, state governments, and local organizations do to help those with criminal records get those jobs?
Helping Reentering Citizens Find Meaningful Employment
Studies show that the largest predictors of employment success after release were being in a state that does not require disclosure of criminal records; being employed before prison, especially for longer periods of time; holding a job while incarcerated; and having a photo ID. Unfortunately, not all reentering citizens had a job before incarceration, and many do not have an ID when they get out. But some government solutions are already in the works.
For example, some state and county governments have created various initiatives to try to equal the playing field. “Ban the box” laws have taken hold throughout the country. These laws prohibit employers from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history in initial applications and often through to a conditional offer of employment. This policy was adopted for federal agencies and contractors in the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2019. By October 2021, such laws had been adopted for government agencies by 37 states and more than 150 counties and cities. Beth Avery & Han Lu, Ban the Box: U.S. Cities, Counties, and States Adopt Fair Hiring Policies, Nat’l Emp. Law Project (Oct. 1, 2021). Fifteen of these states and 22 counties and municipalities have extended this protection to some private employers. These laws allow an ex-offender job applicant to be evaluated on equal footing with other applicants who have had no contact with the criminal justice system. At least one study has shown that such laws raise the probability of public employment by as much as 30 percent. Terry-Ann Cragie, Ban the Box, Convictions, and Public Employment, 58 Econ. Inquiry 425 (2020).
The Federal Bonding Program, and similar programs adopted by several states, also helps allay employers’ concerns regarding on-the-job crime when hiring someone with a criminal record. U.S. Dep’t of Labor, Federal Bonding Program (1966). The FBP is essentially free insurance coverage that indemnifies employers who hire at-risk employees, including ex-offenders, for the first six months of employment, up to $5,000 with no deductible, for theft and fraud. After that, employers can procure bonding or insurance for ex-offenders in much the same way as they would for other employees who present a risk of theft, fraud, or other crime on the job.
Because the inability to secure professional licenses disadvantages ex-offenders from many meaningful employment opportunities, several states have reformed professional licensing requirements in recent years to ease limitations for ex-offenders. Sophie Quinton, To Help Ex-Offenders Get Jobs, Some States Reconsider Licenses, PEW (Mar. 8, 2017). In fact, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have reformed their occupational licensing laws to reduce these systemic bars to ex-offenders receiving professional licenses, like those required for roofers, barbers, cosmetologists, hair braiders, and nail technicians. Nick Sibilla, Barred from Working: A Nationwide Study of Occupational Licensing Barriers for Ex-offenders (Inst. for Just. Aug. 2020). A law like this, for example, may have allowed K.B. to continue teaching at her daycare.
Some states like Florida have sealing and expunging laws that conceal certain criminal history records from public view and, under some circumstances, allow the ex-offender to deny under oath having even been arrested for the offense. Fla. Stat. §§ 943.0585, 943.059. These are just some of the ways in which the government has attempted to increase employment opportunities for reentering citizens. But much more is needed, which is why community support and independent organizations are so important.
Community Organizations
For example, Miami businessman Marvin Rauzin founded Transition, Inc., 48 years ago. Rauzin believed that the likelihood of reentering citizens returning to jail would be greatly reduced if they could find meaningful employment. Transition. Studies have proven him correct. He visited local jails once a week to help prepare inmates for their release from prison. Then, once they were released, he helped them find jobs. Since 1972, Transition Inc. has assisted over 27,500 returning citizens find employment.
Today, Transition has been extremely successful at helping returning citizens find and maintain meaningful employment. Located in the Miami neighborhood of Overtown, each year Transition helps roughly 1,000 participants find employment by utilizing a database of offender-friendly employers with whom it has built relationships over the years.
But Transition’s 48 years of experience has taught the organization that finding employment for a previously incarcerated individual is not enough. There are too many barriers to successful reentry. Newly released individuals do not have access to transportation, work clothing, expensive tools for construction jobs, or state-issued identifications—all necessary to obtain, perform, and maintain a new job.
There are many ways in which Transition assists individuals with combatting these issues. Transition provides free bus passes to its participants so that they have a way to get to interviews and their new jobs. It has a clothes closet from which each participant can get work attire so they have something to wear to an interview or job. Transition also provides participants with whatever tools they may need to start their construction or other careers. Staff help participants fill out proper forms to get state-issued identification, which often lapses during incarceration, so they can receive and cash paychecks. Transition employees teach participants resume preparation and interview techniques through mock interviews and discuss proper dress, employer-employee relationships, and workplace conduct. Transition also provides clients with workshops designed to help them gain confidence and self-esteem to succeed in the workforce.
Moreover, throughout the years Transition has learned that the goal is not just to employ returning citizens, but to help people find meaningful careers that pay a reasonable, living wage. Transition provides numerous job training certification programs for participants, such as forklift and heavy machinery operation and electrical and plumbing classes, so that they can get jobs that pay above minimum wage. Transition has a financial literacy program taught by volunteer professionals in the community and a partnership with Miami Dade College to provide computer classes. It also provides a GED training program.
Transition has found that other wrap-around services are also vital for returning citizens to succeed. Returning citizens need access to food stamps and other social welfare programs and benefits (68 percent of Transition participants have received food stamps and 34 percent received cash welfare), housing, health care, COVID testing and vaccination information, mental health counseling, and help navigating the relationships with family members they have not seen in years.
The Dannon Project similarly helps those on their “road to redemption.” Based in Alabama, the Dannon Project was founded in 1999 by Kerri Pruitt after a formerly incarcerated individual shot and killed her brother-in-law. She believed he reoffended because he had no community support post-incarceration and wanted to do something about it. Mrs. Pruitt created the Dannon Project, whose mission is to serve as a point of contact within the community by providing case management, health services, housing assistance, substance abuse counseling, family reunification, financial literacy and life skill training, workforce readiness, and employment assistance for previously incarcerated individuals. The Dannon Project has expanded to South Carolina and Texas and has been awarded continuous funding from the Department of Labor to fund reentry and risk prevention initiatives.
Other organizations, like the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) in Colorado, create jobs for previously incarcerated individuals. CEO gives participants a one-week job-readiness orientation and then hires them up to four days a week on a CEO work crew that provides neighborhood beautification services. CEO then provides the participants with job coaching to find full-time employment outside of CEO and follows them after they leave to ensure they have the support they need to grow in their careers. Similarly, Arizona’s Primavera Works is a staffing agency that trains previously incarcerated individuals and then finds them jobs through its staffing agency. Primavera Works provides workers with lunches, transportation, clothing, safety equipment, supplies, and housing and support services. It also pays workers above minimum wage, helping reentering citizens avoid living in poverty.
Finally, some organizations work to make systematic changes to the barriers to successful reentry through advocates, providers, and policymakers. Legal Action Center (LAC), in New York City, for example, has been working since 1973 to offer free legal services to individuals with arrest records (as well as individuals with substance use disorders and HIV or AIDS) who face discrimination in health care, employment, housing, and education. LAC engages in impact litigation to create precedents to more easily defend the civil rights of its constituents down the line and works with policy advocates at the national, state, and local levels to protect access to health care and opportunities for its constituents. Root & Rebound, in Northern California, also helps currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families by providing legal advocacy, public education, policy reform, and litigation. Root & Rebound has a reentry hotline and in-person legal clinics where individuals can get free legal advice on their rights with an arrest or conviction record. They provide reentry preparation courses inside prisons and jails for inmates before they are released. These organizations also help returning citizens expunge their records so that they can leave their convictions in the past.
These community-based organizations can truly bridge the gap and help returning citizens find meaningful, sustainable employment while also providing the necessary additional services they need to succeed in creating systematic change.
Conclusion
K.B., D.M., and J.D.’s stories are heartbreaking—they show the trappings of a justice system that over-criminalizes, over-incarcerates, and then fails to adequately assist former offenders get back on their feet. US recidivism rates are alarmingly high and plague our cities and most vulnerable communities. Meaningful post-incarceration employment may be the most effective bulwark against it. A fulfilling and reasonable paying job will not only provide for a returning citizen’s basic needs of food and shelter, but it can provide the social network, structure, and foundation for improved self-esteem that can help transform an ex-offender to a productive member of society.
Some laws and government policies and programs that will assist former offenders obtain the jobs they need are gaining traction. But more public policies assisting reentering citizens to find and hold meaningful employment are needed. Additionally, more community support and independent organizations are crucial. Not only are meaningful jobs vital to successful reentry, but all of the other services people need to take advantage of that opportunity—from transportation, to work attire clothing closets, GED and job training, and financial literacy—must be available. If we ever want to significantly reduce recidivism and provide ex-offenders a fighting chance to rejoin society, we must redouble our efforts to facilitate meaningful employment, provide the other necessary support services, and advocate for changes in the law.
