Bill supports ex-prisoners’ return to normal lives

April 25, 2007 by Maya Harris, San Francisco Post

Too often, individuals released from our prisons end up back behind bars.  It’s common knowledge that our criminal justice system’s emphasis on punishment instead of rehabilitation fuels this revolving door.  Without effective support mechanisms to help ease formerly incarcerated individuals into productive lives as law-abiding citizens, we can expect this cycle to continue.

The problem is systemic and requires a complete overhaul of our criminal justice system.  But some steps can be taken now to improve the situation.

Assembly Member Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) has introduced AB 1025 in the State Assembly to help ensure that qualified workers have a fair opportunity to gain employment when they have completed their prison sentences.  The bill would lift unnecessary bans to employment for former offenders and provide that a person may not be denied licensure or have his or her license suspended or revoked based on a criminal conviction unless it’s directly related to the person’s ability to practice the profession or vocation.

Our state prisons train inmates in barbering and cosmetology, but California law prohibits them from applying for a license when they are released.  AB 1025 would remove this barrier to employment and allow former inmates to apply for a state license to work if they have complied with treatment and parole requirements.

With one out of every five of this country’s parolees living in California, this bill would have a significant positive impact on our state.  And it will help build stable, healthy, and safe communities.

Let’s do something concrete, sensible, and immediate for the rehabilitation of formerly incarcerated individuals by writing our state legislators in support of this bill.  The ACLU, the National Employment Law Project, and other advocates in Sacramento are helping to gain momentum for AB 1025, to help turn this bill into a law that benefits opur communities.