A Nation of Second Chances?

President Bush II coined a phrase in his 2004 State of the Union address that has gained much currency since. In proposing what has become the Second Chance Act, the president spoke to the importance of a renewed and more thoughtful focus upon the issue of prisoner reentry. From my prison bunk, I watched with great interest and a bit of surprise, as the president took the moral high ground with an impressive display of empathy and sound public policy thinking, iterating the list of obstacles former offenders face when they leave prison and return to their families and their communities. I felt a peculiar sense of gratitude and appreciation for those words of such direct import for me.

Today, almost three years removed from my one and only stint in prison--a very, very long stint at that--I yet marvel at the president's sensitivity and directness concerning the critical need for the nation to provide a real opportunity for former offenders to successfully reintegrate themselves into the life of their families and communities. I knew he was on to something that would really matter to me, when the time came for me to walk out of prison. I know even more so, today, just how impressively presidential those few simple words were.

My reentry experience, however, calls into serious question the truth of Bush II's claim that "ours is a nation of second chances." I have had virtually no success in obtaining and retaining a permanent, full-time job at a living wage. I've done virtually all of the reentry programs available in my area. I've served as a peer mentor and reentry resource for an uncountable number of fellow former offenders processing their own reentry experience. I'm college educated, computer literate, with great communication skills, and a team-player attitude. I'm particularly effective at communicating the difficulties of reentry to several groups of former offenders recently released from prison every month. I've achieved a good degree of success in helping other former offenders in ways that I haven't been able to help myself.

My family, by and large, fails to process the difficulty I continue to experience in my job search. The implication is that I, in some way, must not be doing the right things in order to find an employer willing to hire me. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm doing--I've done--everything anyone could reasonably expect of me. I don't even try to convince them of that, any more. They say I've alienated them. I feel that they have alienated me.

I often say to the many former offenders I speak to every month that I never had any respect for repeat offenders during my prison stay. Throughout my incarceration, I never could quite comprehend why so many guys returned to prison. Today, I know all too well why most of those who return to prison do so: the lack of real career opportunities. All the doors to financial stability and success--traditional or otherwise--seem not only closed but also locked. Dead bolted. Barricaded. Welded shut.

So, pardon me for this bit of skepticism: Mr. President, I beg to differ.