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Wednesday, May 1, 2019 Glendale Community College Student Newspaper
Volume 113 | Issue 3
System Impacted Tobias Graves-Morris Graphic Designer
Bringing awareness of how formerly incarcerated indivuduals can move on to lead a successful lifestyle By Marian Sahakyan Afroditi Kontos With many roadblocks to transition back into the society, unemployment is possibly one of the biggest hurdles formerly incarcerated individuals must overcome. With a huge lack of knowledge about resources and available support, the formerly incarcerated often feel ‘stuck,’ which often results in recidivism, sending them back to prison. Prison policy, a non-profit organization, that exposes the harms of mass criminalization in the American justice system, found that the unemployment rate for these individuals is “nearly five times higher than the unemployment rate for the general United States population.” The same organization found that there
are 5 million people living in the United States who were previously imprisoned 27 percent of whom are gravely affected by unemployment. “[They] want to work, but face structural barriers to securing employment, particularly within the period immediately following release,” the study noted. “‘Formerly incarcerated’ reduces their employment chances even more.” A question arises, “how is the “formerly incarcerated” status uncovered to potential employers?” According to Global HR Research, 96 percent of American Employers require at least one type of background screening, during which things like criminal records and driving history come up. Thus resulting in the unveiling of one’s past records, which generally puts them under the pressure of society,
with labels like ‘ex-con’ or worse yet, ‘criminal.’ Naturally, people are inclined to reject these individuals from their social circles, and employers reject them from their pool of employees. Breaking societal barriers, Glendale College has embraced its formerly incarcerated students, lending a helping hand to those who are looking to turn their lives around. System Impacted Intellectuals is a club on campus that has used education and community as a way to reconcile from the mistakes of the past. “Some of these students don’t have a mother or father to ask basic questions. They carry a stigma and are afraid to ask faculty because they may be looked at differently after someone finds out they have a record,” said David Gray, president of the club. “The club gives them an
opportunity to be free and humble. We are a support team, a first line of defense, supporting each other. During meetings we share what we are working on and give one another space to be who we are.” [“Expungement” continued on page 2]
In This Issue
News. . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 Features . . . . . . . . . 4-5 Opinion.. . . . . . . . . . 5 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Entertainment. . . . . 7