The obstacles to a second chance after prison
Laws and stigma keep certain jobs, housing and even transportation off-limits to the formerly incarcerated, making it difficult for those returning to their families to restart their lives.
Why it matters: People of color are disproportionately imprisoned in the U.S., and people looking to get hired after serving time are more likely to deal with restrictions that can force some back into similarly desperate circumstances that led to their arrest.
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"The No. 1 factor that determines recidivism or whether or not you're going to go back into the cycle is whether you have economic stability," said Eliana Green, an Equal Justice Works fellow for Root and Rebound, one of many organizations providing reentry help to people.
What's happening: Some employers explicitly will not hire people convicted of certain crimes, while others may be more hesitant to hire someone with a criminal record.
State occupational licensing requirements can automatically reject formerly incarcerated applicants for jobs in health care, education and other skilled industries. Roughly 1 in 5 workers have to get licensed for their jobs.
People with records have been kept from being hair cutters and treating drug and alcohol addictions. They can even be denied licenses in fields they have training and experience in — sometimes even from reentry programs behind bars.
In California, inmates help fight wildfires for up to $3 a day, but upon release are likely to be refused a job in firefighting.
Even without prison time, people on probation are often "still walking out with a felony and still have all the barriers that are created by a felony conviction," Green said.
After finishing years of probation for being present when $40 of marijuana was sold, Jamila Banks tried to become a licensed family therapist. The board "let me take the test. They approved my hours — all of this costs money. Then, they deny me" because of the felony conviction, Banks said in a video about her story, provided by Root and Rebound. After a 2020 California law passed restricting boards from denying licenses because of criminal convictions, Banks won her case and is now licensed.
People on probation and parole also have the added difficulty of working around the daily requirements of supervision, including last-minute meetings with their case officers. Small, technical violations can result in jail or prison time.
The big picture: It's not just jobs. Other federal and state laws prevent people with records from living in public housing and qualifying for a valid driver's license — creating interlocking challenges to a second chance.
Formerly incarcerated people are 10 times more likely to be homeless than their neighbors, and the likelihood is even higher among Black and Hispanic former inmates, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
Forty-three states allow driver's licenses to be suspended for outstanding court debt, according to Fines and Fees Justice Center. But without a job, people often can't pay those fines. And without a license, it's harder to get to work.
What to watch: Efforts to eliminate some barriers have been gaining ground over the years, and now "there's a stronger track record of bipartisanship on reentry reforms," Brennan Center's Justice Program senior counsel, Ames Grawert, told Axios.
States have recently passed laws to prevent licensing boards from discriminating against those with a criminal record.
There's also growing movement behind "clean slate laws" that allow people to expunge crimes from their record.
"Ban the box" campaigns to stop employers from asking about criminal records early in the interview process have resulted in 36 states now having policies that require employers to wait until later in the hiring process.
The bottom line: The U.S. criminal justice system is cyclical and leaves a lasting imprint on people’s lives. Every step of the way, people of color suffer most.
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