A Felon is Treated as a Failure

 A felon is treated as the scourge of society. Waking up day to day to be denied. Felons are denied things the average Joe depends on daily to get by.

• The ideal career.
• Denied social assistance.
• Housing assistance
• School grants
• The right to vote.
• Jobs worth mentioning

What is $7.00 a hour going to do for a man with a family, trying to make up for lost time and, prove to his loved ones he can stand on his own two feet? Or a woman trying to support her children and herself? I’ll answer that question for you. Nothing! It’s oppression and a sure sign of failure to be 33 years old,doing a 16 year old kid’s job. But a felon, he or she better jump at the chance to prove society wrong and make a better person of themselves against all odds. What does this do for the sensitive mind ,open for change? A person is released back into a society that obviously failed him/her. They were just released from a place they still have nightmares about.They are indeed open for change. Where is the help and assistance these fragile people need in order to really be a productive member in society?While incarcerated this person received:

• Therapy
• job training
• health care
• G.E.D

       Upon release they are ready for the world.

• They are physically fit.
• Mentally fit(having matured)

       Only to find out that things have changed:

• Older children
• higher bills
• less chance of employment
• lost love ones
• broken relationships

   Sometimes coming home is worst than going to jail.

           The known felon is under the consistent harassment  of law officials, local through federal. Living under constant threats of incarceration  from his or her Probation/parole officers because:

• they can’t find a job
• smoked weed
• argued with his wife too loud.

While on probation or parole he/she is expected to abstain from alcohol.The average citizen gets drunk as they want and live their life freely.Travel the world. Join the military. Take time off from school & work to get to know themselves better. He/she is not even allowed to serve their country except by providing jobs for others:

• Police
• Correctional officers
• Judges
• the criminal Attorney
• the medical staff
• the food service staff
• social services

 Don’t get me wrong always use your best judgement when allowing anyone into any of your networks social,career,or personal.  There are some ice cold individuals ,rapist ,murderers and,violent gang members, but most felons I’ve come across are looking to mature overnight. They know the streets promise two things :

• Jail
• Hell

They have lost family and friends at young ages, and are hopefully , looking for a way to avoid the inevitable. Yet he or she is filling out application after application,dreading that section that covers the criminal record. Sometimes, told flat out,  we don’t hire felons. I mean, is being a Felon the new minority? Or imagine being a minority( African, Asian, or Latino)  felon, or even more a felon of non-christian faith. Even in these harsh times we live in, we still owe it to each other to not be judgmental.You may have just passed up a chance to assist a fellow human being who is at a major turning point in his/her life.

Speaking as a felon and for felons all over this country. We are not all the worst the world has to offer. A lot of us are family men/women. Who accepted the risk of scarring our own records in order to feed a group of people. Never intending to harm a soul. Even more some have readjusted thinking patterns to fit in a society, that has already counted them out.