Ex-Convicts Finally Getting a Second Chance as More Companies Hire Former Inmates to Fill Labor Gap

Despite adding an unprecedented 3.8 million jobs in 2021, workforce participation remains low. This worker shortage is creating a unique opportunity for those with a troubled past.

At age 21, Jesse Wiese committed a crime that led to time behind bars.

"I spent about ten years in prison for armed bank robbery," Wiese said in an interview with CBN News. "Found myself really trying to find purpose in life, chasing all the wrong things."

After becoming a Christian and attending Prison Fellowship Academy, Wiese's life dramatically changed. 

After his release in 2006, Wiese attended Bible college and then completed law school at Regent University. Today he is a practicing attorney. He also works with Prison Fellowship, helping others like himself navigate the often-difficult life on the outside.

"There are housing barriers, employment barriers, barriers to purchasing a home, lots of different types of barriers and that doesn't include the kind of social stigma that comes along with having a criminal record," Wiese explained.

Devon Kelley of Newport News, VA knows about that stigma.  

After three years in prison on a drug charge, finding work proved frustrating.

"The first job I went to was Hardees and they denied me cause I had a felony," Kelley told CBN News. "I never would get an opportunity to even interview with anybody."

Wiese says the ongoing labor shortage created by the COVID-19 pandemic has opened employment opportunities for those who have served time.

"Fifth Third Bank, major corporations coming out and encouraging other corporations to say take a risk," said Wiese. "We are seeing with this labor shortage more opportunities being afforded."

In 2018, Kelley was re-hired as a shipfitter at Huntington Ingalls Newport News shipyard. He now pays it forward by encouraging the company to hire others like him, something he saw pay off at a recent hiring event.

"These guys from the community heard about it and came, and they were offered a job that day. These guys will be the ones who're gonna make that company better if you just give them that one shot," Kelley commented.  

Kelley also runs his own non-profit group called "Not My Child," which reaches at-risk youth in his city. 
 
Meanwhile, Wiese says the work of removing barriers for those seeking a second chance after incarceration is far from over.

"We need to make sure that now since they're the ones that are going to show up to work, they're the ones that go the extra mile, we need to make sure that is sustained over time and that's going to take an additional effort," said Wiese.