The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction offers inmate apprenticeships in plumbing and vocation training in cosmetology. But when the inmates get out of prison, Ohio laws and rules forbid convicted felons from working in those professions. Those are just a couple of examples of the more than 800 post-release restrictions in Ohio that make it harder for ex-offenders to re-enter society.
Governor John Kasich has been talking about it for several months now and mentioned it again in his state of the state address.
"If you have a felony conviction and you've served your time and you come out of prison, do you know that you're prohibited from cutting hair or driving a truck"? Kasich asked during his speech. “We can't have that. We've got to fix that.”
The state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is studying how to reduce collateral consequences on ex-cons and still maintain public safety. The study groups have focused on collateral consequences, license suspension and fees, certificate of civic restoration, fair hiring practices, and child support practices.
Some recommendations include giving judges more leeway to remove barriers to employment, re-evaluate state and local government hiring practices and moving the “conviction check-box” on employment applications to make sure employers don't just focus on the conviction.
Dave Foster works ex-offenders through a program at Hilltop Lutheran Church on the west side of Columbus and says there is a rationale for some of the sanctions but most should be eliminated.
“The kind of blanket, 'just because you have a felony conviction for whatever reason you can't work in this area,’ that's what I'd like to see go away," Foster said.
Oladotun Fasheun got out of prison eight years ago and despite a bachelor and two masters degrees, the only job offers he got were for washing cars and flipping burgers. He did both. Now, he scours real estate listings looking for homes he can rehab and resell.
Fasheun says most ex-cons just want a chance.
“Lives change in the twinkling of an eye and to hold that against you for the rest of your life is just not who we are as a people,” Fasheun said. "It doesn't make any sense to spend money in prison giving somebody skills like cosmetology or barbering and you come out and you can't practice that skill."
A comprehensive collateral consequences database (Civil Impacts of Criminal Convictions), under development by the Ohio Justice Policy Center with support from the Ohio Ex‐Offender Reentry Coalition, the Ohio State Bar Foundation, the Toledo Bar Association and the Ohio Public Defender, is currently available at http://www.opd.ohio.gov/CIVICC/.
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