In a recent episode of Love After Lockup, Joey went on a job interview at a HVAC company. The last real job he held was in 2017 before he was #incarcerated. The manager interviewing Joey thought he would be a good candidate for his HVAC crew until Joey disclosed that he had a criminal record.
As you can see the mangers demeanor changed when Joey disclosed, he had an extensive criminal history from being addicted to #opiodcrisis that started from a prescription by his doctor. During the entire interview up until this point, the manager did not write anything on his writing pad until Joey disclosed, he was just released from prison.
This is a being pointed out because the manager was interested in Joey even after being told he had no experience. The shift in the atmosphere/attitude changed when Joey
disclosed his criminal past and explained he completed an HVAC class while in prison. The manager told Joey that he could not work there because of his past, which Joey had an instinct that he wouldn’t get the job while he was traveling to the interview.
This goes to show you that obtaining employment post incarceration is not as simple as most members of our community, legislators and other political leaders think. Employers do not want to hire us no matter how long we’ve been released from jail/prison or what kind of education/certifications we’ve received while doing our time.
This is why a lot of us fall back into our old lifestyle because of the lack of opportunities post incarceration.
We want to do right, we just need you (the community, legislators and political leaders) to give us a chance.
Change is needed!