Felons and Second Chances

The United States Penal System and that of many states claims that part of its mission is to reform and rehabilitate those who are incarcerated and return them to society as productive individuals who contribute to society. The harsh reality is that society does not willingly accept those reformed individuals back into the workforce - most employers will not hire felons, regardless of how much their life has changed.

Felons - or rather, people who have a felony in their past, are punished for the remainder of their life for their mistakes and wrongdoings of the past, no matter how far in the past those mistakes may be. For instance, a young man is charged with possession of a narcotic. He is sentenced to one year in jail. This young man serves his time and prepared to never look back. He has changed his ways and learned from his mistakes. However in he public eye, he is now and forever a felon.

This same young man returns home and prepares to start his life anew. He begins looking for employment. The applications all ask the same thing "have you ever been convicted of a felony"? He has two choices, lie and hope they don't check, which will mean he lives forever in fear of being discovered, or tell the truth and inevitably be turned down for employment.

Hundreds of thousands of people are faced with this every day. There are many crimes which are considered felons which happen one time and are never repeated; crimes committed in a person's youth which are outgrown; crimes committed during periods of mental anguish which are a one time event that do not recure when the person is treated. Yet, these people are forever doomed to be one of the last ones considered for even the lowest paying of jobs, if they are considered at all.

When sent to prison, felons are put into groups for rehabilitation; they are given the chance for education and even taught a trade - electrical, plumbing, welding, and more. They receive high school diplomas, certificates of achievement and sometimes even degrees. Yet, for the most part, these are worth no more than the paper on which they are printed.

This fact, oftentimes, starts a vicious circle. The newly released young man, anxious to start a new life and looking for a job is turned down repeatedly due to his criminal background. He wanders aimlessly around searching for his path in life yet society has put up roadblocks on each path and he eventually finds his way back to the path which caused him to stray in the first place.

If the penal system it to successfully reform and rehabilitate felons then society must be more accepting of reformed felons. Companies must be more open to understanding that people can and do make mistakes. Communities and states need programs to offer incentives for companies that help re-introduce reformed felons into society.

On April 9, 2008, President Bush signed the Second Chance Act into law. Although the bill failed to pass before the 2008 fiscal year, the Second Chance Act once funded will allow for pre-release planning; employment services; substance abuse and mental health programs; housing; mentoring; family programming and more. This Act is one step to ending the cycle of return prisoners.

Felons who complete their sentence and reform should be allowed to re-enter society and become productive. Branding them with an "F" forever keeps them locked away and in turn we the taxpayers keep paying for them in the cost of prisons and in the form of welfare programs.