| In a small, white collar suburban community just | | | | would position her well for a decent job. For more |
| outside of Salt Lake City, Utah the ex- offender we | | | | than five years, she roughed it through classes and |
| spoke with (he asked us to keep his identity | | | | endless trainings, entering smoke-filled rooms with her |
| confidential) had been a model citizen, receiving | | | | oxygen mask blackened to simulate rescue situations |
| promotion after promotion at work, avoiding all | | | | and navigating the Appalachian mountain roads near |
| negative influences from his prior life, and even | | | | the prison in a yellow fire truck."Any of the physical |
| started his own foundation to assist in the | | | | requirements that you had to do" for state licensing, |
| rehabilitation of fellow Federal and State offenders. | | | | "we were required to do in our classes when we |
| He was released from probation, had moved on in a | | | | were in Federal Custody," says Ms. Owens.She |
| world where he would finally be able to be productive | | | | eventually rose to the fire team's top rank of |
| and could use the skills and tools that he learned to | | | | lieutenant, garnering 300 hours of training and 100 |
| assist the less fortunate. Life was good..His success | | | | hours at the scenes of actual fires in the towns |
| hasn't come easily. The light haired 38-year-old is an | | | | outside the prison.In January 2001, President Clinton |
| ex-offender who had served in the Federal System | | | | granted her clemency on his last day in office after |
| for filing a false statement with a federal bank ( lying | | | | receiving her name from Families Against Mandatory |
| on a credit application) and for possessing "more that | | | | Minimums, a group that advocates changes in |
| four pictures" of pornography, that in 1998 was | | | | sentencing laws. See eight years in prison, she left |
| considered Illegal. Did we mention that it is still illegal in | | | | Alderson to stay at her parents' home in Alpharetta, |
| Utah to have conjuical relations with your spouse | | | | Ga., confident a fire department in one of Atlanta's |
| that involve any type of "oral interactions"..... or more | | | | booming suburbs would hire her. She filled out each |
| easily defined as oral sex.Walking out of the famed | | | | job application truthfully, noting she was a felon. But |
| "Club Fed" as members of the media have called this | | | | state law bars hiring former felons.Ms. Mitchell says |
| place of supposed rehabilitation, he says that he | | | | she offered to "clean hoses, flush the truck, even |
| "made a pact with god, to use all of his talents for | | | | clean the mess hall" anything to get her foot in the |
| the good of mankind" and ssince being released from | | | | door -- all to no avail.Eventually, she was able to land |
| prison over three years ago, he has struggled with | | | | a job with an organization that trains service dogs for |
| basic necessities that we take for granted, such as | | | | people with debilitating diseases and injuries. Last |
| finding affordable housing and getting a valid state ID | | | | year, she moved to Utah and started a catering |
| card.A single non-custodial parent with a steady | | | | business with her husband, who she had met back in |
| paying job, he would normally be considered a prime | | | | high school. The business didn't take off so they are |
| candidate for public-housing assistance, but he knows | | | | planning to try again next year in her husbands home |
| the odds are against him. Local housing rules bar | | | | town of Rigby, Idaho.Many ex-convicts leave prison |
| ex-felons from living in public housing for six years | | | | wanting to start anew, and the first step is often |
| after completing their sentence. But this offender is | | | | trying to get an education. But while 63% of all |
| one of the few that we have spoken to that have | | | | undergraduates receive some form of financial aid, |
| the support of a family. "So many ex-offenders have | | | | money isn't easy to come by for ex-felons.Federal |
| no knowledge that the life of crime that they know | | | | law states that first-time offenders convicted on |
| CAN come to an end, said Sheila Demarco, a | | | | federal or state drug-possession or drug-trafficking |
| substance abuse advisor in Salt Lake City. "But having | | | | charges are ineligible to receive financial assistance for |
| the support of a family who cares is becoming a rare | | | | as long as two years after their convictions. |
| commodity" said Demarco."In prison, you learn the | | | | Completing drug rehabilitation can cut that time, but |
| value of being your word, being respectful and | | | | such programs can be expensive."I understand their |
| staying inside the lines" he said, and I really got clear | | | | concern. A college campus is a perfect place to sell |
| on how important family is in ones life" he said. So, in | | | | drugs, but I also know I can't move forward in my |
| keeping with the commitment that he made to keep | | | | life without an education and a good job," says Ms. |
| his family first he decided to do whatever it took to | | | | Wheeler, a former offender we spoke to who was |
| "make it" this time.Now, every month, he makes the | | | | released last year. She now earns $6 an hour at a |
| hour-long trek to the local airport, ready to board a | | | | The Training Table, a fast-food restaurant, trying to |
| plane, so that he can visit with his child that lives out | | | | make ends meet to help support her 1-year-old.For |
| of state. "I have been going to visit my ex and my | | | | our first subject, finding housing has been the |
| child for almost a year now, he said. "And I love the | | | | toughest challenge. Upon being released in 2004 from |
| way that I feel when I know that I am doing the | | | | federal prison, he then headed for a halfway house in |
| right things in life."I have to admit, It's one battle | | | | Salt Lake City, Utah.Like many prisoners released |
| after the next -- trying to obtain housing, trying to | | | | before their sentence is completed, he was required |
| obtain employment," he says. "I want a second | | | | to find a job in 15 days or face the possibility and |
| chance. I want people to see that yes, I have made | | | | constant threat of being returned to prison to finish |
| mistakes, but I am making it right." "I know that I | | | | his last six months. But to get a job, he needed valid |
| can do this, but it is not easy", he statedOur subject | | | | identification from the Department of Motor Vehicles. |
| is one of more than 630,000 people released each | | | | In Utah, residents need a combination of |
| year from correctional institutions in the U.S. Not | | | | documentation such as bills and voter registration |
| surprisingly, people who have been locked up for | | | | cards that each add up to enough cumulative "points" |
| many years, often poorly educated and lacking in | | | | to qualify for a driver's license or nondriver ID.The |
| financial support, face a range of obstacles to | | | | ex-inmate we spoke to says that he had a federal |
| re-entering society. Yet some of the biggest are put | | | | prisoner ID, a birth certificate and a Social Security |
| there by federal, state and local governments, | | | | card. Those were not enough. Motor-vehicle |
| including hurdles to getting student loans, public | | | | personnel asked if he had a passport, a bill with his |
| housing and other forms of government | | | | name on it, any additional identifiers. "I kept telling |
| assistance.For years, the thinking among | | | | them that I'd been in prison the last 3 years and |
| law-enforcement officials and politicians was that this | | | | didn't have any other identification." Eventually he |
| was the price people should pay for breaking the law. | | | | found a sympathetic supervisor who issued him the |
| Now there is an emerging belief that the larger price | | | | card.He found a job quickly at a local telemarketing |
| is being borne by society, since the practical barriers | | | | firm, but switched after a few months to work for a |
| facing ex-prisoners make it more likely that they will | | | | large painting company, where he could use the |
| slip back into a life of crime.National Statistics indicate | | | | construction certificate he'd earned in training on the |
| that two-thirds of ex-felons return to police custody | | | | inside.Still, he struggled to find a cheap yet safe place |
| within three years of their release for new crimes or | | | | for he and his daughter. The two are now living in a |
| for probation or parole violations, according to Justice | | | | home that was provided for them by a family |
| Department studies. U.S. taxpayers spent $60 billion | | | | member.The federal government has a small number |
| on corrections in 2002 at the local, state and federal | | | | of restrictions against ex-felons living in public housing, |
| levels, up from $9 billion two decades earlier. Over | | | | such as sex offenders and those who have |
| that same time frame, corrections (including private | | | | manufactured methamphetamine in a housing |
| prison programs) have been the second fastest | | | | complex. However, local housing authorities are able |
| growing government spending category after health | | | | to impose their own restrictions on ex-felons living in |
| care.Aside from public-housing restrictions, many | | | | public housing, and those can be expansive, based |
| former felons find they need special waivers to get | | | | upon the local attitude of State Agencies who |
| licensed in vocations they learned while serving time. | | | | impose such rules.Howard Harder, spokesman for the |
| Some find their attempts to get an education are | | | | Los Angeles City Housing Authority, says there are |
| stymied by laws barring loans to those convicted of | | | | virtually no vacancies in the city in public housing and |
| a crime. Still others can stumble into technical | | | | with about 136,000 applications pending it is unlikely |
| violations that send them back to prison, such as | | | | that someone with a felony record will get in. |
| reporting late for a meeting with a probation officer, | | | | Besides, ex-felons are ineligible for public housing for |
| submitting a dirty urine sample or failing to pay a fine | | | | six years after the completion of their sentence, |
| or restitution as required. For those who have | | | | including probation.Until something else comes along, |
| completed lengthy sentences, the most frustrating | | | | he says he'll keep pushing for promotions at work. |
| barrier is also the most basic -- getting a legitimate ID | | | | Returning to a life of crime and risking a return to |
| card, such as a driver's license."Having one barrier | | | | prison is not an option, he says: "I don't have another |
| may not be considered that big a deal," says | | | | 3 years to give to anyone."Copyright 2006- Robert |
| Anthony Gerry, director of the prisoner re-entry | | | | Paisola- All Rights ReservedFor Additional Information |
| institute at the Washington Institute of Criminal | | | | see Author, Robert Paisola, donates his time and |
| Justice in Washington DC. Usually, though, offenders | | | | resources on a worldwide basis to support the |
| face several barriers, he says, adding: "You can't get | | | | reformation of criminal offenders and to ease the |
| housing, you have child support" payments to make, | | | | re-entry process for ex offenders. He established a |
| "you can't get ID and no one will hire you. When | | | | foundation to assist in this effort. His work and |
| looked at in full, that sends a signal: You're not | | | | dedication to this cause have resulted in many forms |
| wanted." said GerryAfter years of pushing for | | | | of recognition, however, as Robert put's it "It is not |
| tougher sentences, politicians in Washington are now | | | | about me" It is about the thousands of inmates that |
| starting to rethink their approach. The Second | | | | we assist each year around the world, to end the |
| Chance Act, hammered out by a bipartisan group of | | | | revolving door of recidivism.If you are in need of |
| lawmakers and introduced in Congress last year, | | | | specialized motivational training to the inmates, |
| would have provided more than $80 million in grants | | | | former inmates or drug rehabilitation patients that |
| for programs to help ex-offenders re-enter | | | | you supervise, Robert Paisola is the person to bring in |
| society.Lacie Mitchell might have benefited from a | | | | to visit with your clients. He will PROVE that there |
| key part of the legislation: a provision ensuring that | | | | CAN BE and IS a different way of living. Seminars are |
| ex-offenders can be licensed in occupations they | | | | also available for a nominal fee to work with |
| trained for in prison.Ms. Mitchell was determined to | | | | Supervising Staff, Jail Personnel and Federal Agencies |
| learn a skill so that she could get a job when she left | | | | including the Federal Bureau of Prisons.Does This |
| the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional | | | | Work? email for additional booking informationRobert |
| Institution, in West Virginia, a women's prison made | | | | Paisola is driven by a passion for people--motivating |
| famous recently for housing Martha Stewart.In 1993, | | | | them to reach for the highest standards of success. |
| Ms. Mitchell, who had just finished her sophomore | | | | As founder and president of many International |
| year at Santa Rosa Junior College in Northern | | | | Corporations, Robert trains sales and marketing |
| California, obtained LSD for her ex-boyfriend and | | | | professionals who want to strive to get to the |
| mailed it to him in Georgia. He was caught and | | | | top...and stay there.Routinely Distinguished by The |
| cooperated with authorities against those he had | | | | National Speakers Forum, Robert is also a regular |
| enlisted to secure drugs. He was sentenced to two | | | | contributor to Business Week Magazine, CNN, CNNFN, |
| years while she received 10.Ms. Mitchell, now 32 years | | | | XM Satellite Radio, The Wall Street Journal, |
| old, joined the prison's all-women fire-fighting team, a | | | | Telemundo International, National Public Radio and |
| group that provides fire protection for the prison and | | | | many other organizations. |
| backup for other local fire squads. She figured it | | | | |