Commonsense legislation
(That’s why it probably has a zero percent chance of passing)

State Sen. Shirley Smith — with the support of Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) director Terry Collins — is sponsoring a piece of legislation that would make the successful transition from prison back into the community less of an uphill battle for formerly incarcerated persons. Senate Bill 197, if passed, would essentially allow persons with past criminal convictions on their records a better shot at employment since they (after a period of five years of good behavior) would not have to list the convictions on job applications. Getting the bill passed, however, is (for a myriad of reasons) going to prove to be a major challenge.

First and foremost Ohio is (as I’ve written before) actually a Southern state that just happens to be physically located in the North. But in terms of politics, sensibilities and views in matters racial, the hearts and minds of many — if not most — Ohio residents (outside of those residing in the Northeast sector of the state) are as Southern as Confederate flags, poll taxes, and hushpuppies. In spite of the rightness of Senate Bill 197 getting conservative legislators to make a decision based on reason rather than populist passions will prove difficult.

Opponents will mischaracterize this bill as being ”soft on ex-convicts,” but nothing could be further from the truth. It actually is “pro safety” and “pro tax-saving” legislation that is designed to allow formerly incarcerated individuals who have turned their lives around a chance to become taxpayers rather than remaining tax-takers. But many folks in America foolishly buy into the notion that if a person ever runs afoul of the law they should pay for their transgression forever and ever. Not only is this bad policy, it’s also un-Christian, and violates the notion of basic fairness.

People do turn their lives around — I know, I’m one of them. For the past dozen years I’ve strived (and most would say with some degree of success) to be an upstanding, contributing member of the community, and to become part of the solution ... rather than continuing to be part of the problem. I was fortunate in that some people took a chance on me — most notably my lovely wife — and I have no intention of letting anyone down. There are literally thousands of other people out there asking for a similar chance, and I’d be willing to bet that virtually everyone knows of someone — some friend, co-worker or family member — that has turned their lives around after exiting prison.

A line from a song goes, “If you ain’t nothing, you got nothing to lose.” People who get out of prison with nothing, and have no means of gaining a toehold on life become threats to society inasmuch as they will eventually run afoul of the law again trying to feed and keep a roof over their — and loved ones — heads. As society it is far better for us to allow them to work and pay taxes than to set them up for failure and wind up paying $25,000 per year to feed and house them back in prison. In an area as economically depressed as ours the last thing we need to be doing is setting up roadblocks to success ... anyone’s success. You don’t have to love this population; just love keeping your tax dollars in your wallet or purse. This is Economics 101 folks.

The timing for introducing the legislation, however, is right ... no matter the outcome. We have a new governor in Ted Strickland, a man who formerly functioned as a psychologist at Lucasville prison and knows more about incarceration (and the aftermath of imprisonment) than any other person who has occupied the governor’s office. During the campaign he strongly expressed his belief in second (and third) chances, and might be willing and able to use the bully pulpit of his office to move the legislation in the right direction. We’ll see.

Along with S.B.197 there needs to be another piece of legislation that addresses collateral sanctions. These are laws that also work against a person becoming a productive member of society after finishing a prison sentence. A collateral sanction (Ohio has 359 of them on the books, more than any other state) is an additional punishment for something that had nothing to do with the original crime the person was charged with. For instance, a man who owns a barber shop and is convicted for writing a bad check, in Ohio he could lose his barber’s license — although he was convicted of writing a bad check, not giving a bad haircut. Another example: The ODRC trains prisoners to become plumbers, but then the state — the same state, mind you — bars them from taking the test to become licensed plumbers. Go figure.

But even if all of the legal hurdles to employment for the mostly Black returning prisoners are dismantled, there still remain other barriers that are just as entrenched. And these non-legal barriers will prove more difficult to clear.

Princeton University conducted a study in New York City. They sent out four groups of men in the same age range with similar educational backgrounds to apply for entry-level jobs. One group was Whites who stated on the job applications they had never been to prison; the second group was Whites who stated they had been to prison; the third group was Blacks who stated they had never been to prison; and the last group was Blacks who said they had been to prison. Not surprisingly, the group that got called back the most often were the Whites who’d stated they had never been to prison. But the group that got the second most callbacks was Whites who’d stated they had been to prison; they got more callbacks than Blacks who’d stated they had never been to prison. So, even if Sen. Smith’s bill does pass, the men and women it is meant to help will still be Black ... and probably still shut out of the job market.

Obviously some employers are saying they don’t want to hire Blacks because of criminal backgrounds, when, in truth, that is just a ruse; they never had any intention of hiring Blacks. I wonder if any organization here in Cleveland would care to replicate the Princeton/New York study, or are we too afraid to of the truth? Our stupidity, mean-spiritedness and racism is costing our communities, and costing them dearly in terms of lost manpower, good will, and growth.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com
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