Getting a job with prison on your resume isn’t easy. That’s an understatement, but tomorrow ex-offenders in Ohio will get free advice—including information on starting a business and finding the resources to return to school—and even free proper business clothing to help them get back into the workplace. The event, free and open to ex-offenders, will be held at Columbus State Community College. Thanks to several government agencies involved and to Ohio Development Director David Goodman for this initiative. Goodman also sponsored Senate Bill 77, the bill that enacted best practice reform aimed at reducing wrongful conviction.
Which brings to mind the peculiar place of the exonerated. One would presume that tomorrow’s program would also welcome those wrongfully convicted, because, unfortunately, many still face the stigma of prison even though they did not deserve to be there.
An unfortunate reality for those proven innocent after conviction is the lack of resources available to transition back into the world and productive living. In some cases they don’t even qualify for the few resources given convicts upon prison release.
And imagine the conflict felt in needing the assistance of an event like this one in Ohio but the reluctance to attend a program for ex-cons when desperately trying to clarify to the world that you technically should not qualify. Your conviction was a mistake.
As with the ex-offender, the punishment of the wrongfully convicted doesn’t end with release from prison. While headlines of multi-million dollar settlements provide another reminder of the many costs of wrongful conviction, the reality is that most who are wrongfully convicted do not get the help they need after exoneration. ..continued.. by Nancy Petro
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