NCJ Number
243807
Date Published
2013
Length
33 pages
Annotation
This report explores issues related to the ability of ex-offenders to get jobs after their release from imprisonment in Wisconsin.
Abstract
This report is divided into two parts: mass incarceration of African-American males and transportation barriers to employment, suspensions of driver's licenses due to not paying fines. Results indicate that Wisconsin has the highest Black male incarceration rate in the country; more than 50 percent of Black males in their 30s in Milwaukee County have spent time in State prison; and that time in prison is the most serious barrier to employment, which explains the excessively high unemployment rate among African-American men in Milwaukee. Given wide disparities in income among racial groups in Wisconsin and the intense levels of segregation in the Milwaukee metropolitan area, large numbers of ex-offenders released from Wisconsin correctional institutions reside in the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee, areas which also have seen dramatic job losses and foreclosure actions during the economic recession. Bringing ex-offenders into full engagement in the current labor force is one of the most important challenges. Charts, figures, and appendixes