Life After Prison: Finding a Career with Ban the Box

After serving an extensive time behind bars, most formerly incarcerated people hope to restart their lives. This includes a second chance and for many a desire to rejoin the workforce. However, many formerly incarcerated people found it difficult to find a job as a result of what they say is discrimination against people with convictions. New Jersey enacted the Opportunity to Compete Act, also known as the Ban the Box law, on March 1st, 2015. The law prohibited employers from requiring that an applicant disclose his or her criminal history. But people still feel they are being treated unfairly. Democracy and Justice Fellow with the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, activist Ron Pierce has first-hand experience with this issue and hopes to fight for a change in the system.

Pierce faced many challenges when he was seeking a job after serving thirty years in prison. He recalled a time in which he applied for a simple warehouse job, moving boxes from one location to the next. He filled out the application, which did not include questions about past convictions thanks to Ban the Box. He waited until the company called him back. The company quickly discovered that he was convicted of a crime and based on their policy, they could not hire him, according to Pierce. Even though he repaid his debt to society, he was still looked at as a criminal.

“They told me I was not allowed to volunteer for their organization even though I was perfect for [it],” he said describing his experience.

When Pierce eventually did find a job at Rutgers Newark University, his application was still met with skepticism. “I actually had to get three people to vouch for me, saying that I was not a threat to do anything wrong,” said Pierce. Pierce attended Rutgers Newark while he was incarcerated. Even though he was an enrolled student, multiple people still needed to stand behind him to ensure that he was able to work at the facility.

The Ban the Box law aimed to help people that were formerly incarcerated find work. The questions were removed from the application process but employers can still run their own background checks and deny people a position if they find that they were formerly incarcerated.

“You’re excluding a whole aspect of people based on nothing more than their past,” Pierce said. “Who I was 35 years ago is not who I am today.”