Exonerees face roadblocks in the journey from prison to employment

Summary

Exonerees say they often face a second punishment after their convictions are overturned: a lingering stigma that follows them into the job market and makes it harder to rebuild stable lives. Richard Miles, who was released from a Texas prison in 2009 after a wrongful murder conviction, said he tried to secure work with a packet of newspaper clippings about his exoneration but faced rejections from potential employers including warehouses and fast-food restaurants.

Miles described the rejection as a pattern exonerees recognize. He said the experience also weakens people’s belief that the system can heal itself, noting what he sees as continuing treatment of exonerees as if they remain inmates. “We’re still kind of like looked at as an inmate that did a particular crime. It further deteriorates our ability to believe that the system can heal itself,” Miles said, adding, “When cases like in Louisiana occur, it just shows us that the system is not healing itself.”

Louisiana’s political fight over the election of Calvin Duncan has amplified those concerns. Duncan served nearly 30 years in prison before his murder conviction was vacated in 2021 after evidence emerged that police officers had lied in court. Duncan won elected office as the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court in November and had been set to take office May 4, vowing to fix the system that failed him, but lawmakers in the state moved Wednesday to abolish the job.

Jon Eldan, founder and executive director of the California nonprofit After Innocence, said the stigma persists even after someone is exonerated and elected. Eldan said, “Even if they are seen as somebody who is exonerated, there is still a stigma as somebody who has been in prison.” Duncan sued Gov. Jeff Landry and other state officials in federal court on Wednesday, accusing them of conspiring to prevent Duncan—a Black exoneree and supporter of racial justice—from taking office as scheduled. The lawsuit asked a federal judge to allow him to take office May 4.

The AP reported that a spokesperson for Landry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and that a spokesperson for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying Murrill “had nothing to do with the bill.” Eldan and Miles framed the episode as part of a wider issue for exonerees across the country—an account echoed by exonerees who say barriers can include not only stigma, but gaps in work history and training.

Miles said he eventually found a job through a minister at his church, and he now runs a nonprofit in Dallas, Miles of Freedom, that helps formerly incarcerated people rebuild their lives, including exonerees. Other exonerees describe similar employment challenges: Jeffrey Deskovic, who spent 16 years in prison after a wrongful conviction in New York, said he was turned down by prisoner reentry organizations because he was not on parole or probation. Deskovic later helped found the Deskovic Foundation in New York and earned a law degree, he said, but he has described inconsistent work even after his release.

Research and advocacy groups say there is little government information that tracks employment outcomes specifically for exonerees, even though indicators for people with prison histories show major disparities. A 2018 Prison Policy Initiative study found formerly incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate of over 27%, and a 2021 Bureau of Justice Statistics study found 33% of federal prisoners released in 2010 did not find employment for four years. By comparison, the unemployment rate in March under the U-3 measure was 4.3%, according to FRED data for the article’s date.

Supporters of exonerees point to concrete help as a partial answer while pushing for policy changes. After Innocence works directly one-on-one with exonerees nationwide, Eldan said, including helping with healthcare and dental services and providing financial and job counseling and resume preparation, as well as efforts to clean up records to reflect what happened in their criminal cases. Eldan said the group helped write and pass a Delaware law providing compensation for wrongful imprisonment, alongside a stipend and support for housing, food benefits, and health and dental insurance, and that it worked with states including California and New Mexico on proposals aimed at passing bills for innocence certificates and record updates.

Other exonerees said they reached work through personal networks that substitute for what they describe as limited safety nets. Ben Spencer, who spent 34 years in prison in Dallas for a murder he did not commit and was released after exoneration in 2021, applied for jobs including at an Amazon warehouse and as an airport baggage loader, but did not secure positions at first. He later said someone who took an interest in his case helped him get work as a facilities engineer, and that he has been employed there for five years.

Advocates said additional legislative support could help bridge the gap between release and employment stability. Eldan and Miles said more states should fund programs tailored to exonerees after release, arguing that converting benefits into statute can be difficult because the state is not well suited to deliver services in practice. “But it’s hard to write into a statute, something that actually translates into real benefit for these people,” Eldan said. “It’s not because the state is bad, but because the state just is not well-suited to deliver those services.”