Columnist Steve Chapman got it exactly right when he argued that ex-prisoners ought to have the right to vote (“Stripping ex-cons of the right to vote should be a crime,” Commentary, July 22).
But Chapman inadvertently makes a mistake in laying out his case. He suggests that when ex-prisoners return to society, they can choose to return either to a “thug life” or change their ways, including getting a job.
If that part about getting a job were actually possible, we wouldn’t have so many ex-prisoners forced back into a life of crime and returning to prison. Of the 36,000 inmates who will be released from Illinois prisons this year, 54 percent are likely to be reincarcerated within three years.
Why? One reason is that employers are reluctant to hire an ex-offender. Race enters this picture as well: 50 percent of employers won’t hire white ex-offenders; that percentage rises to 65 percent for African-Americans.
Far too little vocational rehabilitation is offered in our prisons. But the irony is that often prisoners who receive education while incarcerated can’t secure the jobs they trained for because of statutory and licensure restrictions.
Some of the barriers to employment are beginning to fall. The General Assembly will likely act on a bill in the veto session that would allow a judge to seal the record of someone who served time for non-violent misdemeanors and low-level felonies after a four-year waiting period.
But much more needs to be done–in prisons and after prisoners are released–to repatriate ex-offenders and to allow them to be productive citizens rather than forcing them back into a life of crime and prison. All of us will benefit when that happens.
