Thomas Cramer grew up in Maryland and was a police officer, private detective and later a security consultant after moving to Florida in the mid-1990s. Near the end of that decade, his life took a hard turn. He developed a cocaine habit that cost him his house — and in 1999, at the age of 38, Cramer hit rock bottom, robbing an Orlando bank to support his drug habit.
The judge threw the book at him, sentencing him to 27 years in prison even though his record was otherwise clean, and Cramer had been unarmed. Life inside the Mayo Correctional Institution in Lafayette County was “as brutal as you see it in the movies,” says Cramer, who ultimately served 22 years there. “It was a nightmare for me.”
He made the best of it, managing to avoid violence from fellow inmates while saving up cash working in the prison law library, the canteen and finally on supervised release in a restaurant kitchen until he was freed on Dec. 16, 2021. First, Cramer visited Siesta Key Beach with his brother and sisterin- law. The following week, he began a two-week program to earn a Class B commercial driver’s license at FleetForce, a Sarasota-based truck driving school that recruited him during his work-release days. In the following months, he gained experience as a garbage truck driver in Orlando and completed FleetForce’s Class A course to operate big rigs.
Today, he’s the company’s lead instructor and stands as a shining example of the benefits of second chance or fair chance hiring — the practice of employing people with criminal records.
It’s a concept that’s gaining acceptance and traction in business circles, says Neil Volz, deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, a nonprofit known for leading the successful ballot initiative to restore voting rights of Florida felons. “People are desperate to hire folks. … You can feel it. You can feel what happens when the business community (gets involved). You move at the pace of business. That’s a lot different than the pace of government.”
Two of Florida’s business heavyweights — the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida — have jumped on the bandwagon. And JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank, is among second chance hiring’s biggest proponents.
In this year’s letter to shareholders, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said that nearly 10% of the company’s new hires last year were people with a criminal background; 3,200 in all, 660 in Florida, and not by chance. The bank has made a point of hiring people with criminal records since 2018, when it removed a question about criminal backgrounds from job applications. Chase’s hiring teams, including human resources and legal staff, are careful to select people whose criminal history has no bearing on the job they are hired to perform. They include workers in transaction processing, lending and account servicing, operations, as well as virtual and associate bankers.
“We’re always looking for the top talent in all the places we do business, and we want to make sure a criminal record isn’t a barrier to getting the talent we need while also adhering to safety and soundness (principles),” says Nan Gibson, executive director of the JPMorgan Chase PolicyCenter.
The bank in 2021 co-founded a Second Chance Business Coalition to “share best practices and test new approaches to help support the hiring and advancement of people with criminal backgrounds.” The coalition now boasts about 50 companies in diverse industries, many of them household names: Allstate, American Airlines, AT&T, Bank of America, CVS, Indeed, Macy’s, Microsoft, Visa, Walmart and others. Chase also funded a project called Retaining Talent, an initiative to train Florida companies on the best practices of second chance hiring, including how to properly vet candidates, integrate them into the workplace and promote them while remaining legally compliant.
“What you want to do is look at what’s on their record, listen to what they might have done in prison, since prison, evidence of rehabilitation, consider the type of offense and time (when it was committed) versus the job title — and make the right decision for your company,” says John Koufos, a second chance hiring expert and business consultant who is leading Florida’s Retaining Talent initiative along with the Florida Chamber, the Department of Corrections and other partners.
In finding high-quality employees among a group that others have ignored, advocates say businesses have an opportunity to gain loyal workers, reduce staff turnover and reap other benefits that make them more competitive and productive companies.
For Rhonda Stringfellow, co-founder of Camp Craft Cocktails, a Jacksonville company that makes cocktail and mocktail kits, there’s an altruistic appeal.
“In our minds, we believe really strongly that no one should be judged by the worst decision they ever made. … And belonging to a workplace can be a source of confidence and encouragement for anyone,” String-fellow says. “I think it provides them a chance to contribute to their own success and then to the success of the community because they’re showing up for their family or their neighbors or their friends.”
Among those showing up is Crystal Chisholm. Born in Detroit, Chisholm moved to Jacksonville as a preteen with her mom, who was escaping an abusive spouse. Insecure and looking for people to lean on, Chisolm says she fell in with the wrong crowd. At age 17, she was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced as an adult to 35 years in prison.
Chisholm was released on probation nearly 10 years later in 2018, after a judge reconsidered her harsh sentence as a minor. She found her way to Camp Craft Cocktails and worked her way up from production assistant to assistant director of operations and project manager, overseeing production, shipping, hiring, ordering, equipment training and the company’s 20 employees. As such, she’s made other second chance hires.
“Now, being the person to be able to give the opportunity to somebody else is really huge,” Chisholm says. “When somebody’s getting out of prison and going through the (Ready4Work) program, they want to change their life. They are super dependable, but you do have to have support for them. I always say the first year is really crucial for someone getting out.”
Nonprofits are key partners in the second chance hiring movement, supporting those newly released inmates and at times acting like free staffing agencies for businesses who seek to hire them. Operation New Hope, a Jacksonville nonprofit, has six offices around the state and works with more than 30 Florida prisons and correctional facilities. Its Ready4Work program provides inmates upon their release with a case manager and a holistic mix of soft skills training, mental health therapy, job coaching, mock interviews and logistical support — whatever is needed to help them navigate life after prison. Operation New Hope CEO Reggie Fullwood calls it “intensive care.”
Fullwood came full circle after his own fall from grace. The former state lawmaker pleaded guilty in 2016 to wire fraud and not filing an income tax return. He didn’t go to prison, but the public fallout left him being supported by family while overcoming many challenges that his clients now face. He worked odd jobs for several years before applying to Operation New Hope, where he was hired to oversee its Ready4Work program. In 2022, he was appointed the nonprofit’s chief executive and continues to lead the organization’s growth, opening new offices in Tampa and St. Petersburg last summer.
“In many ways the second chance that Operation New Hope gave me, it was a lifeline and a breath of fresh air that somebody actually believed in me,” he says. “And there’s no way in hell that I would let this organization down because I’m so appreciative of being given the opportunity. … I think that’s the kind of work ethic a lot of our clients have.”
Cities such as Tallahassee also are leading the charge. The city has operated a work-release program with the Florida Department of Corrections since 2010 and has used its personnel, equipment and facilities to train about 450 inmates at locations such as golf courses, with waste management or working on underground utilities. The city also partners with nonprofits to complement the training with financial literacy courses and other life skills. “Not only is it a success for the private sector, it’s been a success for the city as an institution,” Tallahassee Mayor John E. Dailey says. “First and foremost, I believe in second chances. You have individuals who are willing to put in the time and training. Yeah, I’m going to do everything I can to help them out.”
While most of those inmates have gone on to work for the private sector after being released, 80 have stayed on with the city.
They include Quincy resident Travis Bush, who came through the program after he was released from prison in August 2017. Raised and home-schooled along with his siblings by a stay-at-home mom and his dad, a deputy sheriff, Bush recalls a largely happy childhood. But he started abusing opioids and other pills after his first marriage ended. Later he lost his job as a roofer and in 2015 was convicted of grand theft.
Bush has worked his way up to building maintenance supervisor for the city, which includes overseeing the maintenance and amenities of Tallahassee’s main bus depot and its bus stops, along with 10 employees. He appreciates that the job provides health insurance. “It has meant the world to myself, my family, including the immediate family, my wife, and it has changed my life for the better,” says Bush, who is 41. “It doesn’t even have anything to do with the financial part. It’s the becoming part of a family within this organization that means more than anything, and it has boosted my morale and put me on a straight path of positivity.”
By the Numbers
- 6 million — number of Floridians with an arrest record
- More than 80,000 Floridians are in prison
- 24,000 to 30,000 — number of inmates released from Florida prisons each year
- One in 28 — 3.6% — of children in Florida has a parent who is incarcerated
- $28,000 — average cost to house an inmate per year in Florida prisons
- 3% of the cost to house inmates in Florida is spent on education services
- 56% of business leaders say they are willing to work with people with criminal records
Sources: Associated Industries of Florida; Florida Chamber of Commerce; Florida Department of Corrections; Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)
The Business Case
Finding high-quality employees is the central promise of second chance hiring. “(T)he single largest most overlooked pool of talent is the population of people with a criminal record,” says economist and St. Petersburg resident Jeffrey D. Korzenik, author of Untapped Talent: How Second Chance Hiring Works for Your Business and the Community.
Advocates say second chance hires can be just as or more productive, engaged, loyal, reliable and grateful for an opportunity than their record-free counterparts because of the mistakes and hardships they have experienced and seek to overcome. Providing jobs to people with records also reduces recidivism, which benefits individual companies, the economy and society.
Other incentives associated with second chance hiring include:
FEDERAL TAX CREDIT: The Work Opportunity Tax Credit is typically worth $2,400 (40% of first-year wages up to $6,000 if they work at least 400 hours). Employers may claim the credit one time for each qualified ex-felon, veteran or others they hire from groups the federal government has identified as facing barriers to employment. An ex-felon is qualified if they were convicted or released from prison in the past year. The credit can range from $1,200 for hires who work fewer hours up to $9,600 for veterans.
BOND PROTECTION: The U.S. Department of Labor protects employers who hire people with criminal records by offering a free six-month insurance policy or fidelity bond for that employee worth $5,000. Employers may apply for the bond protecting them from losses caused by “employee dishonesty,” such as theft, forgery, larceny or embezzlement.
Roadblocks
Second chance hiring isn’t a panacea. Some former inmates struggle with keeping up at a new job because they are not yet ready for employment, whether because of factors like housing and transportation, or emotionally.
“A lot of times the client will tell you they’re ready to come back into society, when in all actuality when they get employment, they’re not ready for it yet. They’ve got to want it,” says Tracey Washington, who helps place inmates with employers through her nonprofit, The Manasota ReEntry Project, and as a chapter leader for the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.
Viewing felons as viable candidates raises questions for employers. If they were just released from prison, do they have housing and transportation? Do they present a risk to a businesses’ reputation or the safety of its staff? Is the crime the candidate committed directly related to the job they might be hired for?
Second chance hiring experts point out the need to address such questions as well as conduct a background check during the hiring process, which protects a business from legal liability and ensures the crime committed isn’t directly related to the job.
Rewired
In the late 2000s, Aaron Hill had turned to theft and trafficking in stolen goods in order to buy various items from electronics to the benzodiazepines such as Xanax to which he was addicted. Hill served two separate stints in prison and in the meantime reformed his life through Christianity and sobriety, he says. When he was released the second time in 2016, he sought out Operation New Hope.
Through the program he gained an apprenticeship with Miller Electric, earning just above the minimum wage. He lived with his sister, relying on a diet heavy with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tuna fish and egg salad to save money as he gained experience.
Today, as a journeyman electrician, Hill makes $33.46 per hour — a wage that helps the 45-yearold raise four children. “What I have today is a sense of peace and security,” he says. “Everything I have worked for, and it feels damn good.”
He’s also proud of his latest assignment: As a commercial industrial electrician in Miller Electric’s health care division, he has recently been working on the emergency power supply system for Shands Hospital. “(It is) very critical. People depend on us who are on life support,” he says.
PRIDE Enterprises
Perhaps the most well-known item that Florida inmates make are state license plates. But did you know they make dentures? The nonprofit Prison Rehabilitation Industries and Diversified Enterprises (PRIDE) offers inmates cleared by the Department of Corrections work at state facilities where they make an extensive variety of goods and offer many services. Furniture, stationary and eyeglasses are just a few more. The latest product — beginning in the last quarter of 2024 — are tiny homes to help tackle Florida’s housing shortage. The Florida Legislature created PRIDE in 1981 to manage pre-release work programs for Florida’s prison inmates — all with no funding. PRIDE sells its products to pay for the program while inmates earn industry certifications in 37 fields that include welders, dental technicians, diesel mechanics and other occupations. PRIDE assists with some transitional needs such as transportation, housing and job placement.