National News
Business Survey Finds Support for Second Chances for Those With Criminal Records
April 03, 2017 posted by Steve Brownstein
A newly released survey of Connecticut employers found strong support for efforts to give ex-offenders a second chance.
The survey of 311 employers found that 95 percent of respondents agreed that hiring previously incarcerated individuals can help turn them into productive members of society. The poll, conducted by Harris Poll for the Malta Justice Initiative between June and October of 2016, was released this week.
"When individuals coming out of prison get and keep jobs, our whole community benefits,” said John Santa, retired executive of Santa Energy and chairman and founder of Malta, a Connecticut-based group that advocates for prisoners and their families.
"Businesses fill jobs, taxpayers are not paying the costs of incarceration, and new employees are paying taxes and contributing to the local economy as productive members of society,'' Santa said.
Connecticut releases about 10,000 men and women from state prisons each year, and more than half return to prison within three years at a cost of $51,000 per inmate annually. Studies have shown that recidivism rates fall sharply when ex-prisoners land jobs.
While the survey showed positive attitudes towards hiring individuals with criminal records, most employers have little experience with it. The survey found only 9 percent of respondents had a significant experience in hiring previously incarcerated individuals, while 51 percent had little experience, and 40 percent had never done so. Only three percent of employers said they actively try to hire people with criminal records.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has made a push to help ex-offenders secure jobs through his Second Chance Initiative. The effort, based on the principle that a criminal background need not derail a person's entire life, includes a job-training program for inmates near the end of their sentences.
Malloy visited Bear's Smokehouse in Hartford in late 2015 to highlight the Hartford restaurant's efforts to hire ex-prisoners.