WEBVTT - 63: How to Get a Job After You Commit a Felony

0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.120
<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by Bank of America. Merrill Lynch Seeing

0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:05.600
<v Speaker 1>what others have seen, but uncovering what others may not.

0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:09.680
<v Speaker 1>Global Research that helps you harness disruption voted top Global

0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:13.000
<v Speaker 1>research from five years running. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, and

0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:17.279
<v Speaker 1>Smith Incorporated. When I got out and I had access

0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:19.400
<v Speaker 1>to the Internet of the cannabis, tarted to realize that

0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:21.920
<v Speaker 1>there were all these other ways, like all the all

0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:25.680
<v Speaker 1>these other points at which race can play roles, such

0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.520
<v Speaker 1>as you know, rebounding from something like this. Um. You know,

0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.600
<v Speaker 1>there's there's some data I've read that that white people

0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:36.000
<v Speaker 1>with a record are more likely to get hired than

0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.160
<v Speaker 1>black people with that one, and you know that that's

0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:50.800
<v Speaker 1>kind of shocking. Hello, and welcome back to Bloomberg Benchmark

0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.720
<v Speaker 1>Show about the global economy. I'm Scott Landman, an economics

0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.360
<v Speaker 1>editor with Bloomberg News in Washington, and I'm Keith Smith,

0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.080
<v Speaker 1>an editor with Bloomberg here in New York. All right, well,

0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.160
<v Speaker 1>if you're looking for a break from this post election madness,

0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.360
<v Speaker 1>you've come to the right place. Today on Benchmark, we're

0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.800
<v Speaker 1>turning our attention to an often overlooked corner of the U.

0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.760
<v Speaker 1>S economy. Our prison population. So here are some numbers

0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:16.800
<v Speaker 1>that we found really interesting. The US accounts for one

0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.760
<v Speaker 1>fifth of the world's prisoners, even though the nation only

0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:23.800
<v Speaker 1>has of the world's population. That's right, the US has

0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:27.679
<v Speaker 1>two point two million people in prison, and that's more

0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.480
<v Speaker 1>people than China actually has in prison, and China has

0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.640
<v Speaker 1>a population that's four times bigger than the United States.

0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.360
<v Speaker 1>All told, the US imprisons almost one per cent of

0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.279
<v Speaker 1>its population. That excludes other forms of detention, but it's still,

0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.319
<v Speaker 1>you know, pretty high number. And it's actually the highest

0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.680
<v Speaker 1>proportion in the world when you look at the share

0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.880
<v Speaker 1>of the population that's in jail. So here a Bloomberg.

0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.320
<v Speaker 1>We obviously love superlatives. So hearing highest proportion, that got

0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.360
<v Speaker 1>us thinking two questions, are there too many people in jail?

0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.120
<v Speaker 1>And is that very fact? You know? The extension in

0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.000
<v Speaker 1>that we make it tough for x cons to get

0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.800
<v Speaker 1>back to jobs, is holding back economic growth? Well, joining

0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:07.840
<v Speaker 1>us today to explore the issue as a woman in

0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.519
<v Speaker 1>her early thirties who was intimately familiar with what it's

0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:13.560
<v Speaker 1>like to go to prison and what it's like to

0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:18.800
<v Speaker 1>rejoin the workforce afterwards. Carry Blakinger was a senior at Cornell,

0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.040
<v Speaker 1>the Ivy League university in upstate New York, when she

0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:26.360
<v Speaker 1>was busted six years ago for heroin possession six ounces

0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:30.120
<v Speaker 1>to be precise. Kerry pleaded guilty to criminal possession of

0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:34.120
<v Speaker 1>a controlled substance Class B felony and served twenty one

0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:36.320
<v Speaker 1>months in prison out of a two and a half

0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.480
<v Speaker 1>year sentence. She did most of her time at Albion,

0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:43.520
<v Speaker 1>a medium security facility for women in upstate New York.

0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:48.440
<v Speaker 1>Following her release in September, Carry managed to get reinstated

0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:52.280
<v Speaker 1>at Cornell, graduated with a degree in English in December,

0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:56.360
<v Speaker 1>and got herself a job at the Ithaca Times. She

0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:58.640
<v Speaker 1>since moved on to the New York Daily News and

0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:02.240
<v Speaker 1>more recently moved to Texas, where she's now working as

0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:05.720
<v Speaker 1>a general assignment reporter at the Houston Chronicle. She's on

0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.080
<v Speaker 1>the phone with us now from Houston. Carry, thank you

0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:12.720
<v Speaker 1>so much for joining us today. Hi, thanks for having me. Carry.

0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.239
<v Speaker 1>Let's get one thing out of the way, something you've

0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.680
<v Speaker 1>been open about discussing. You're white. How much did your

0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:22.639
<v Speaker 1>race play in your ability to rebound from prison, earn

0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.440
<v Speaker 1>your degree and get a job in the industry of

0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:30.320
<v Speaker 1>your choosing? Well, you know, I think that, Uh it

0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:33.799
<v Speaker 1>obviously it played a huge role, but uh, it's really

0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.080
<v Speaker 1>difficult to point to an exact moment and say, oh,

0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.000
<v Speaker 1>this happened because I was white. Uh. It's something that

0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.480
<v Speaker 1>I sort of gradually realized in looking at data that

0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.800
<v Speaker 1>there are um a lot of indications that statistically this

0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:54.440
<v Speaker 1>rebound would have been less likely if I were a minority. Um.

0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:58.520
<v Speaker 1>I think that before going to prison, I hadn't really

0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:02.360
<v Speaker 1>thought a lot about the racial disparities in the criminal

0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:06.160
<v Speaker 1>justice system. Like I sort of I knew that they existed,

0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.119
<v Speaker 1>as I think everyone does, but it didn't really hit

0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:13.840
<v Speaker 1>home until I was actually seen it in front of me. Uh.

0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.599
<v Speaker 1>And and even then it was not immediately apparent because

0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.000
<v Speaker 1>in the county that I got arrested in, it's so

0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:24.440
<v Speaker 1>over overwhelmingly white that the county jail is also overwhelmingly white.

0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.440
<v Speaker 1>It's uh. In Thompton County, which is where it is,

0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:32.719
<v Speaker 1>the county jail is somewhere around twentysomething present black, which

0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:36.760
<v Speaker 1>is much lower than most other incarcerated populations. But that's

0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:41.320
<v Speaker 1>because the town is only about five percent block. So

0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:45.080
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't until I went to state prison. Um after

0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:50.200
<v Speaker 1>about ten months that I that I was seeing, you know,

0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:55.120
<v Speaker 1>around half of the population was black, and um, you know,

0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.640
<v Speaker 1>and that is that makes it much more obvious. That

0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:04.120
<v Speaker 1>sort of drives home these statistics that you might read about, um,

0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.480
<v Speaker 1>you know, I mean when you hear people's stories and

0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:12.000
<v Speaker 1>you realize why they're there and the differences in what

0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:16.480
<v Speaker 1>sort of crimes lands people in prison. So you know

0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.800
<v Speaker 1>this this was sort of gradual realization for me. And

0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:23.800
<v Speaker 1>then when I got out, uh and I had access

0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:25.880
<v Speaker 1>to the internet the cannon, I started to realize that

0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:28.400
<v Speaker 1>there were all these other ways, like all the all

0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:32.160
<v Speaker 1>these other points at which race can play roles, such

0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:36.000
<v Speaker 1>as you know, rebounding from something like this. Um, you know,

0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.480
<v Speaker 1>there's there's some data I've read that, uh that white

0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.960
<v Speaker 1>people with a record are more likely to get hired

0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.040
<v Speaker 1>than black people with that one, and you know that

0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.760
<v Speaker 1>that's kind of shocking. I certainly can't look back at

0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.360
<v Speaker 1>anyone's job and say, oh, I I would not have

0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.280
<v Speaker 1>gotten hired if I were a minority in this job.

0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.480
<v Speaker 1>But I know that overall, statistically it's true. And I

0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.640
<v Speaker 1>think that that's something that sometimes people struggle with when they,

0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.880
<v Speaker 1>you know, they'll ask me, well, at what point did

0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:06.839
<v Speaker 1>this play a role? And I sort of can't point

0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.400
<v Speaker 1>to any one thing and say definitively race with the

0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.240
<v Speaker 1>factor here, but I can say that, you know, there's

0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.520
<v Speaker 1>all these different points at which is really likely that

0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.280
<v Speaker 1>it played a role, and it's you know, statistically looking

0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.080
<v Speaker 1>at the data, is it looks like it's likely played

0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.160
<v Speaker 1>a role. If I can jump in, Um, one thing,

0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:25.240
<v Speaker 1>I you know, kind of as you're talking, I thought

0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:27.760
<v Speaker 1>was a little bit interesting. So obviously you know the

0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:30.120
<v Speaker 1>word fell in. You know, it carries a start, as

0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.120
<v Speaker 1>you know, a certain stigma, but in reality it's an

0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.680
<v Speaker 1>umbrella term for you know, a host of different things,

0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:38.560
<v Speaker 1>you know, ranging from you know, kind of what happened

0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.160
<v Speaker 1>with you, but then you know some much much more

0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:44.280
<v Speaker 1>like violent crimes. Um, why does society attach so much

0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.600
<v Speaker 1>stigma to felons given that you know kind of the

0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:48.520
<v Speaker 1>breadth of those crimes and some are just so much

0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.520
<v Speaker 1>worse than others. I mean, is this failure to properly

0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.840
<v Speaker 1>rehabilitate people holding back society and the economy. Well, to

0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.920
<v Speaker 1>answer your your first question, I think that, uh, one

0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.760
<v Speaker 1>of the reason people attached to speaking of sounds is

0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.120
<v Speaker 1>because a lot of people think of silence as rapists

0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.200
<v Speaker 1>and murderers, and it's actually, you know, as you said,

0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.160
<v Speaker 1>a much broader class. I mean, this can include drunk

0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.760
<v Speaker 1>driving charges, even in situations where no one's actually been injured. UM.

0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.480
<v Speaker 1>Not to minimize the severity of drunk driving, but I'm

0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:18.320
<v Speaker 1>just saying I think that's not what a lot of

0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.960
<v Speaker 1>people think of when they think of a felon UM.

0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:24.960
<v Speaker 1>So I think that that's part of the reason why

0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:28.200
<v Speaker 1>there's this stigma, because people sort of just assume this

0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.880
<v Speaker 1>means murderers and rapists, you know, and and also you know,

0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:35.600
<v Speaker 1>Sony's don't go away in most states. In some states

0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:39.120
<v Speaker 1>there are options to ex fund or steal your record. UM.

0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.200
<v Speaker 1>But something that's twenty years old can have just as

0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.480
<v Speaker 1>much impact on your ability to get a job as

0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:46.680
<v Speaker 1>something that's five years old. It really just depends on

0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:50.120
<v Speaker 1>how employers ask, how they ask about it, and how

0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:53.680
<v Speaker 1>they choose to take time to account. If I can

0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.400
<v Speaker 1>ask you a personal question, Carrie, when you were looking

0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:00.560
<v Speaker 1>at jobs after um, your experience in prison, how did

0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:04.400
<v Speaker 1>you handle that question? So, my my first job at

0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:08.040
<v Speaker 1>the at the Times, it was not a question. Everything

0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.120
<v Speaker 1>you knew. It was a small town like there's no

0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:15.200
<v Speaker 1>chance i'd he was unaware. Um, so, uh, you know,

0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.520
<v Speaker 1>it's it's a small, very liberal town, and um, you

0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.520
<v Speaker 1>know this was just sort of h it was a

0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:25.280
<v Speaker 1>nice little homie paper and a nice community, so it

0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:29.440
<v Speaker 1>was not as likely to affect me there in that job. Okay,

0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:31.720
<v Speaker 1>but that's then moving up to the other one the

0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:36.400
<v Speaker 1>other places, right, So since then, Um, I've I've found that,

0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:38.719
<v Speaker 1>you know, I've applied for a number of jobs, and

0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.120
<v Speaker 1>I've only had one job that asked about it and

0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.480
<v Speaker 1>actually called me back. Every other time that I've had

0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.680
<v Speaker 1>to check the box, uh, I've never gotten a callback.

0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.280
<v Speaker 1>You know, I've never heard anything. Um, although I've I've

0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.719
<v Speaker 1>gotten a you know, a decent call back right on

0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:55.640
<v Speaker 1>jobs that I did not have to check the box.

0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.920
<v Speaker 1>So that's not a definitive study or any conclusion, but

0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.439
<v Speaker 1>you know it, and totally it does. It has seemed

0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.000
<v Speaker 1>to make a difference in my personal experience of employment.

0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:06.679
<v Speaker 1>My current job is the only one that I've ever

0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.040
<v Speaker 1>checked off the box floor and not only gotten a

0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.560
<v Speaker 1>call back, but then actually got hired. Um. The Daily

0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.640
<v Speaker 1>News did not ask any climes did not ask, although

0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.240
<v Speaker 1>I should have assumed that in journalism, employers would be

0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.880
<v Speaker 1>likely to google you, so I have to do that

0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:25.679
<v Speaker 1>in my case. People know. But I do think that when,

0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.079
<v Speaker 1>when and whether they ask uh is sort of indicative

0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:33.480
<v Speaker 1>of how they're they're going to handle the answer. Right now.

0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:35.880
<v Speaker 1>And we talk about how many people are in prison

0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.839
<v Speaker 1>in this country, thinking about your own experience, how many

0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.640
<v Speaker 1>of the people you saw during your time in prison

0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.160
<v Speaker 1>should not have been there in your opinion, or we're

0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:50.040
<v Speaker 1>serving too long relative to the crimes they committed. I mean,

0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:52.880
<v Speaker 1>I think, I think that's a really hard question to answer.

0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:56.559
<v Speaker 1>But uh, but one thing that I did notice is

0:09:56.640 --> 0:10:00.160
<v Speaker 1>that I feel like, uh, you know, in a lot

0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:04.800
<v Speaker 1>of cases, you know, well, in almost all cases, prison

0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:09.079
<v Speaker 1>did not help. It's not like, uh, somebody went to

0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:13.360
<v Speaker 1>prison and came out and was better able to address life,

0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:17.040
<v Speaker 1>Like That's that's pretty rare that someone comes out and

0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.920
<v Speaker 1>does better after prison than they did before. So, uh

0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.600
<v Speaker 1>So in that sense, you know, almost you know, almost

0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.760
<v Speaker 1>no one should should be there if that's the measure.

0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.240
<v Speaker 1>If the goal is rehabilitation. Of course, the goal is

0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.960
<v Speaker 1>not solely rehabilitation. Part of the goal of prison is punishment,

0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.280
<v Speaker 1>so you know, that's the more subjective thing I probably

0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.360
<v Speaker 1>can't really speak to. All Right, Well, we're gonna take

0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.200
<v Speaker 1>a break for a word from our sponsor and we'll

0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:55.920
<v Speaker 1>be back shortly. Brought to you by Bank of America,

0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:59.040
<v Speaker 1>Mary Lynch seeing what others have seen, but uncovering what

0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.400
<v Speaker 1>others may not. Global Research that helps you Harness disruption

0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.800
<v Speaker 1>voted top global research from five years running. Mary Lynch, Pierce,

0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:19.240
<v Speaker 1>Venner and Smith Incorporated. All Right, welcome back. So let's

0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.160
<v Speaker 1>talk a little bit more about the economic issues around

0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.079
<v Speaker 1>the job market. Uh. You know, obviously you had one

0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:30.320
<v Speaker 1>experience carry at at a facility and upstate New York. Uh.

0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.280
<v Speaker 1>But you know they're with with two million people in

0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:38.280
<v Speaker 1>prison nationwide, uh, and many more people with a criminal record. Um.

0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:43.800
<v Speaker 1>What percentage of people would you actually say are are employable?

0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:48.160
<v Speaker 1>And should employers be more open to people who are

0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:52.600
<v Speaker 1>desperately trying to get back in the world. It's really

0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:56.040
<v Speaker 1>hard to say, Uh, what what percentage of people getting

0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.199
<v Speaker 1>out are employable? You know, everyone comes out with a

0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.880
<v Speaker 1>different skill set and you know, a different mindset is

0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:07.679
<v Speaker 1>to whether they're interested in being rehabilitated. But I think generally,

0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:10.959
<v Speaker 1>if people are in a position where they're making the

0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:15.240
<v Speaker 1>effort to look for employment. That's probably would indicator that

0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:20.520
<v Speaker 1>they're interested in some amount of rehabilitation. I mean, obviously

0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.439
<v Speaker 1>employers are going to take into consideration different things like

0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.760
<v Speaker 1>how long it's been since the crime is committed, and

0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:31.679
<v Speaker 1>you know what the crime was. I think that employers, Uh,

0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.800
<v Speaker 1>you know, she considered not dismissing felons as a whole,

0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:41.440
<v Speaker 1>because obviously some are interested in rehabilitation and can make

0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.400
<v Speaker 1>great employees. Let me ask you a question care about, um,

0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.760
<v Speaker 1>kind of a little bit personal. When you were there,

0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.439
<v Speaker 1>how many people did you see actively trying to take

0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.600
<v Speaker 1>advantage of resources that were available to them to support

0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:59.520
<v Speaker 1>rehabilitation or to support a more successful job search upon

0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.599
<v Speaker 1>their release. Was that common? Well, there aren't really a

0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.720
<v Speaker 1>whole lot of resources to do that behind bars. Um.

0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.880
<v Speaker 1>You know, if you're incarcerated in a state prison, you're

0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:12.959
<v Speaker 1>you know, you're you're far from home, so it's not

0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.480
<v Speaker 1>like you can sort of start a job search or

0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:19.480
<v Speaker 1>anything to to get on your feet from behind bars.

0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.600
<v Speaker 1>There are limited college programs, and you know those are

0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:28.040
<v Speaker 1>typically fo people are interested in those. Uh you know, so,

0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.679
<v Speaker 1>I mean I know one woman who was very inspirational

0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.600
<v Speaker 1>story to me. Anyways, she came in with no high

0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:38.440
<v Speaker 1>school degree, and she got her j D. And then

0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.559
<v Speaker 1>she started college classes and then by the time she

0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:44.720
<v Speaker 1>was ready to be released, she she gotten a college

0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:48.000
<v Speaker 1>degree behind bars. You know. So I think that's an

0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:49.920
<v Speaker 1>example of someone who's obviously trying to make the most

0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.600
<v Speaker 1>of the resources, but those resources are are very limited.

0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:55.720
<v Speaker 1>So are they living in the sense that there are

0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.120
<v Speaker 1>you know, just there's so few and the few offerings

0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.440
<v Speaker 1>that are made get filled up really quickly, or they've

0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.240
<v Speaker 1>limited in that like there aren't there isn't a lot

0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:09.240
<v Speaker 1>of demand. Uh. There there's limited in that there's not

0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:11.560
<v Speaker 1>a lot of resources and that they fill up quickly.

0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.120
<v Speaker 1>There's also uh you know, there are are also vocational

0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:19.640
<v Speaker 1>classes um which uh I think not as useful to

0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:21.920
<v Speaker 1>as many people, but you know, people take them. There's

0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:25.320
<v Speaker 1>g D classes. People take those. Uh. But you know,

0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.040
<v Speaker 1>what what people do to build their time in prison

0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:33.200
<v Speaker 1>doesn't always translate to what's going to happen on the outside. Uh.

0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.160
<v Speaker 1>So that can be you know, that can be problematic.

0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:40.680
<v Speaker 1>But people that have completed some college education in prison

0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.280
<v Speaker 1>have a lower cidivism rate than those that haven't. Let

0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.800
<v Speaker 1>me ask you about the national landscape for prison reform

0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.120
<v Speaker 1>or sentencing reform. Uh. You know, we've the country as

0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:56.960
<v Speaker 1>elected Donald Trump as president, Republicans both houses of Congress.

0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:02.320
<v Speaker 1>Trump's platform was was largely lauren order. He supports prison privatization,

0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.480
<v Speaker 1>doesn't want to restore voting rights to uh to ex felons.

0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.720
<v Speaker 1>At the same time, there is kind of this bipartisan

0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.720
<v Speaker 1>sense that, you know, some of the sentencing laws were

0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.480
<v Speaker 1>too strict. People are getting too long sentences for things

0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.120
<v Speaker 1>like drug possession, obviously, and that you know that that

0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:24.400
<v Speaker 1>benefits you with the sensing laws being changed just before, Um,

0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:27.440
<v Speaker 1>I think you you went to prison. What do you

0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.640
<v Speaker 1>make of the landscape on these issues right now? Um,

0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:33.680
<v Speaker 1>what do you think is going to happen? Well, I

0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:37.720
<v Speaker 1>think that there has been strong bipartisan support for change

0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.120
<v Speaker 1>for a number of years now, and I don't think

0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:46.840
<v Speaker 1>that a Trump presidency would unilaterally change that. And just um,

0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:51.720
<v Speaker 1>you know, one more personal question, how have you been

0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:56.920
<v Speaker 1>able to stay clean all these years? Kerry? Uh? For me,

0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.760
<v Speaker 1>that was a lot about finding something else to fill

0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:04.320
<v Speaker 1>the spot in my life that Heroin took up. Uh,

0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.720
<v Speaker 1>and for me that's been UH. Journalism has you know,

0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:11.080
<v Speaker 1>has been, uh, something I could really throw myself into.

0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.000
<v Speaker 1>And I think that for a lot of people who

0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:19.120
<v Speaker 1>stay clean, it's about finding something else to to fill

0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.720
<v Speaker 1>that spot, to help you become a different person than

0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.800
<v Speaker 1>the person that you were back then. Well, let's let's

0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:28.600
<v Speaker 1>come back to the you know, the prison population, the

0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.920
<v Speaker 1>prospects for economic growth. You have this tight job market

0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:35.920
<v Speaker 1>these days, they're they're employers who complain that they can't

0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.800
<v Speaker 1>find workers. You know, we we've been talking about how

0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.000
<v Speaker 1>you know, maybe maybe employers are too strict with not

0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:46.360
<v Speaker 1>giving felon ex felons a look in their job applications. Uh.

0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.200
<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump says he wants to put million people back

0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:51.840
<v Speaker 1>to work and double the rate of growth. Is it

0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:55.800
<v Speaker 1>possible to do that, you think without turning to uh,

0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.960
<v Speaker 1>people who are who are out of prison for for

0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:04.600
<v Speaker 1>criminal convictions. Carry. Well, I'm not an econmist so I'm

0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.359
<v Speaker 1>probably not that qualified to answer that question. But I

0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:09.960
<v Speaker 1>think anyone can say that it's easier to make that

0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.240
<v Speaker 1>a possibility if felons are more readily included in the

0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.280
<v Speaker 1>job market. Let me ask you a question, carry personally,

0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.120
<v Speaker 1>just kind of like adding a little bit of color

0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.600
<v Speaker 1>to this, did you see people that you knew while

0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:23.960
<v Speaker 1>you were in prison struggle to find jobs, even though

0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:28.000
<v Speaker 1>you know, knowing them personally, they were perfectly capable. Yes, Um,

0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.320
<v Speaker 1>there's there's been I I see you know, on my

0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:33.920
<v Speaker 1>Facebook speed I have, uh, you know, I keep in

0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.760
<v Speaker 1>touch with a lot of people, and I do see

0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:41.200
<v Speaker 1>a lot of them struggling to find employment. Uh. And

0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.520
<v Speaker 1>and I think that makes it hard to stay on

0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:47.159
<v Speaker 1>the right track. If if that's uh, it's that's a

0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:51.560
<v Speaker 1>big stumbling block. I see that there are certain fields

0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.520
<v Speaker 1>in which people seem to have more luck. Uh. Seems

0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:57.000
<v Speaker 1>that a lot of people that are doing well have

0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:01.720
<v Speaker 1>gone into advocacy and non profit work, and that seems

0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.919
<v Speaker 1>to be a feel that is currently relatively open minded

0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.879
<v Speaker 1>to hiring people with a criminal background. But some people

0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.840
<v Speaker 1>that have black hounds in other fields, it's it's much

0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:16.520
<v Speaker 1>more difficult. All right, Well, Kerry, let's leave it there.

0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.000
<v Speaker 1>Thank you so much for joining us. This has been

0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.320
<v Speaker 1>a really fascinating discussion. And uh, you know, I'm personally

0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.760
<v Speaker 1>gratified that that that journalism has that that that you're

0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.639
<v Speaker 1>part of our profession and in that you know that

0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.639
<v Speaker 1>has helped you stay clean. Like like you said, to

0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:37.320
<v Speaker 1>give you that drive in your life. Well, thank you

0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.280
<v Speaker 1>and thanks for having me on today. Al Right, Benchmark

0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:42.359
<v Speaker 1>will be back next week and until then, you can

0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:45.200
<v Speaker 1>find us on the Bloomberg Terminal and Bloomberg dot com,

0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.800
<v Speaker 1>as well as on iTunes, pocket casts, and Stitcher. While

0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:50.760
<v Speaker 1>you're there, take a minute to rate and review the

0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.480
<v Speaker 1>show so more listeners can find us and let us

0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:55.120
<v Speaker 1>know what you thought of the show. You can talk

0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.920
<v Speaker 1>to us and follow us on Twitter at Scott Landman.

0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:01.040
<v Speaker 1>You can find me a by Kate Smith, and you

0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:04.159
<v Speaker 1>can also find our guest carry At at carry b

0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:18.800
<v Speaker 1>l A. Thanks for listening, See you next time. Brought

0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:21.520
<v Speaker 1>to you by Bank of America. Merrill Lynch Seeing what

0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.719
<v Speaker 1>others have seen, but uncovering what others may not. Global

0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.399
<v Speaker 1>Research that helps you Harness disruption voted top global research

0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.680
<v Speaker 1>from five years running. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith

0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:32.440
<v Speaker 1>Incorporated