Things Obama Will Do for Released Prisoners

The executive order requires the federal government’s Office of Personnel Management to take steps to “delay inquiries into criminal history until later in the hiring process”. Noting that about 600,000 federal and state inmates are released each year, Obama lamented the fact that, “a lot of times, [a criminal] record disqualifies you from being a full participant in our society, even if you’ve already paid your debt to society…”

President Obama has announced new steps he’s taking to make it easier for Americans with a criminal record to become productive members of society, including “banning the box” on federal job applications. “Since one in four adults in the US has a conviction history, the impact of this discrimination is widespread and affects other aspects of life in addition to employment opportunity”.

“Unless Cory Booker told him”, said Christie, referring to the state-funded drug treatment center where Obama met with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka that same morning.

“The President has also called on Congress to pass meaningful criminal justice reform, including reforms that reduce recidivism for those who have been in prison and are reentering society”, says a White House statement.

Obama is calling for $8 million in new education grants over the next three years for former inmates.

“That’s bad not only for those individuals, but for our economy”, he said at a roundtable at Rutgers University following his visit to Integrity House. In a press release, the White House added that the administration was “encouraged” that Congress is considering bipartisan legislation to “ban the box” in federal hiring and hiring by federal contractors. “I’m not suggesting ignore it. I’m suggesting that when it comes to applications, give folks a chance to get through the door”. According to a poll conducted by The New York Times/CBS/Kaiser Family Foundation last February, 34 percent of men with criminal records are nonworking males between the ages of 25 and 54 – a number that has grown recently particularly among black men.

The criminal justice reform push has attracted diverse coalition of supporters, which spans the ideological spectrum from the conservative Koch Industries to the liberal Center for American Progress.

The focus on helping former prisoners readjust to the outside world is all the more timely with the decision last month by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to release about 6,000 federal prisoners earlier than expected under reduced penalties for drug offenses.

A new “National Clean Slate Clearinghouse” will allow certain released prisoners to seal or wipe clean their records.

The White House is unveiling an executive order from President Obama instructing all federal government agencies to remove admission of a criminal history from job applications. “So I think that’s kind of amusing, you know, ironic, and just shows them to be hypocrites”.

Obama was talking about people like Terry Williams, 23, who ended up at Integrity House after entering a jail-diversion program following a drug-distribution arrest.