Page 69 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

Indeed, housing authorities generally have policies that strictly prohibit allowing someone with a criminal record to reside in public housing .17 Violating these policies has subjected families to termination of their lease . Moreover, the Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) definition of homelessness excludes many people being released from jails/prisons, since homelessness is restricted to people who served 90 days or less and were “living in an emergency shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that institution .”18
Another particularly challenging issue for formerly incarcerated people is securing gainful employment . Employers routinely overlook qualified job seekers who have spent time incarcerated because they are seen as a potential liability . Race is often a factor, since African-American men, who have the highest representation in the criminal system, are viewed with skepticism . One study found that a black man without a criminal record was less likely to receive a call back or interview than a white man with a criminal record .19 The denial of employment consigns many formerly incarcerated people to a life on the margins, as many of them have to accept off-the-books jobs, or to those with low wages and minimal if any benefits . Even for those who secure decent employment, the effect on earnings is substantial . A report by the Pew Charitable Trust notes that: “past incarceration reduced subsequent wages by 11 percent, cut annual employment by nine weeks and reduced yearly earnings by 40 percent,”20 thereby perpetuating the cycle of poverty .
The discrimination, stigma, and poverty associated with incarceration have acted as a perennial juggernaut for individuals, families, and communities . Communities that have a large swath of men incarcerated are more likely to be impoverished, as women are left to raise children in single- parent households . Indeed, family income is significantly lower without a father’s contributions .21 More men in prison also means that children are often left unsupervised in communities with limited resources, underfunded schools, and few extracurricular activities . A majority of these men (54 percent) are parents of minor children (2 .7 million children) .22 The lives of the children are impacted in a myriad of ways, including that they have far higher suspension and expulsion rates than other children .
Moreover, families routinely carry the load when a loved one is locked up, which can include visits to facilities far from their homes, paying sometimes exorbitant fees for phone calls, and shouldering the burden of fines and fees associated with a conviction .23 When the prison doors swing open, the hope is for a successful transition . This hope can be dashed relatively quickly when the consequences of a criminal conviction exceed the judicial penalty . In a recent expungement decision out of the Eastern District of New York, Judge John Gleeson opined that: “I sentenced [petitioner] to five years of probation supervision, not to a lifetime of unemployment .”24
17 Mireya Navarro, Ban on Former Inmates in Public Housing is Eased, n.y. Times, Nov. 14, 2013, http://www.nytimes. com/2013/11/15/nyregion/ban-on-former-inmates-in-public-housing-is-eased.html.
18 sandra B. henriquez, u.s. deparTmenT of housing and urBan developmenT, noTice pih 2013-15 (pa) (June 10, 2013), available at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=pih2013-15.pdf.
19 pager, supra note 8, at 937.
20 The pew chariTaBle TrusTs, collaTeral cosTs: incarceraTion’s effecT on economic moBiliTy, (2010), http://www.
pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2010/CollateralCosts1pdf.pdf.
21 Id.
22 Id.
23 miTali nagrecha eT al., cenTer for communiTy alTernaTives, firsT person accounTs of criminal JusTice deBT: when all
else fails, fining The family (2015), available at http://www.communityalternatives.org/pdf/Criminal-Justice-Debt.pdf.
24 Memorandum and Order, Doe v U.S., 14-MC-1412 (JG) (E.D.N.Y. May 21, 2015), available at http://cases.justia.com/
federal/district-courts/new-york/nyedce/1:2014mc01412/362518/9/0.pdf?ts=1432297334.
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