For people who have served prison time, the penalties never end.
The California-based national nonprofit Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ) coined a term to describe what many of these people face: post-conviction poverty.
After completing a sentence, and being freed from prison, a formerly convicted individual encounters thousands of restrictions depending on where they live that make it challenging to reintegrate into society. They may not be able to vote, get a driver’s license, or, critically, get a job in a range of fields that require licensing, such as insurance, real estate, or even haircutting.
“A million people get convicted every year,” says Jay Jordan, ASJ’s vice president. And that means, “we’re putting one million people in poverty every year.”
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