Felons are often the subject of discrimination after getting out of jail, regardless of their race, said Jeffery Cottrell, program director of the Urban League of Madison County.
Ex-convicts have trouble finding work. And they are constantly surrounded with a negative stigma, he said.
For example, Madison County is considering an ordinance that would prohibit convicted felons from working as tattoo artists. And many businesses have policies of not hiring convicted felons.
“They’re more worried about a person’s image than their identity,” said Kojak Fuller of Man 4 Man Ministries.
Organizations such as Man 4 Man and the Urban League work to help former prison inmates find jobs.
Jim Ott, a convicted felon who works with Man 4 Man, sees about three to six people a day who have served time in prison but can’t find work.
If a felon cannot find work, they often go back to breaking the same laws that got them sent to prison in the first place, Fuller said. Then the cycle repeats itself.
Many of these felons are not violent offenders, Ott said. Some are highly qualified in various fields, from technology to culinary arts, he said.
For instance, Cottrell had trouble finding work when he was released from prison. While in prison, he received a degree in educational psychology from Ball State, but no one would hire him because of his status as a convicted felon.
It was discouraging, he said. But he kept trying to find work because he did not want to disappoint his mother, as he did when he was first thrown in jail.
“I want to keep a smile on her face,” he said.
xIntolerance
April 23, 2008
INTOLERANCE: Life outside rough for felons
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INTOLERANCE: Elwood students form group to battle bias
ELWOOD — Marisol Salinas, 17, was surprised, not offended, when a supposed friend flashed his Ku Klux Klan card her way.
- INTOLERANCE: Life outside rough for felons Felons are often the subject of discrimination after getting out of jail, regardless of their race, said Jeffery Cottrell, program director of the Urban League of Madison County.
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INTOLERANCE: Gangs rule prison life
In the Michigan City prison, the black inmates sit on one side of the cafeteria, and the white inmates sit on the other side.
- INTOLERANCE: View from the street
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EDITORIAL: 'Intolerance' gave context to bias
We believe: The Intolerance series is a starting point to accepting those who are different from ourselves.
- INTOLERANCE: Churches differ on gay stance Every day for the past 17 years, the members of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., have picketed churches, courthouses, gay pride parades and even the White House for one express purpose: to preach that z
- INTOLERANCE: Gay students still face battle ANDERSON — Nathan Smith looks back at his high school days and is glad that 13 years later gay students don’t have it as hard as he did.
- INTOLERANCE: Alleged illegal aliens face twisting legal path CHICAGO — Diego Hernandez and Anh Phan have never met, but they may share something of a common path.
- INTOLERANCE: Red Gold hires migrants, not immigrants ORESTES — Every August, 430 migrant workers flood Orestes and Elwood to spend just over two months sorting tomatoes at Red Gold. According to Steve Austin of Red Gold, the majority of the workers are Hispanic but they are not, as some believe, immigrants.
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INTOLERANCE: Debate triggers partisan mudslinging
An immigration bill that would penalize employers for hiring illegal immigrants sponsored by Indiana Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, failed last month amidst mudslinging between parties and accusations of racism.
Some opponents of the bill, including state Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, question the true motivation behind America’s anti-immigration sentiment.
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INTOLERANCE: Elwood students form group to battle bias
ELWOOD — Marisol Salinas, 17, was surprised, not offended, when a supposed friend flashed his Ku Klux Klan card her way.
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