Improve Access to Work Supports

Promote access to transportation by amending driving restrictions. Driving privileges are often essential to finding and maintaining work, yet many states ban ex-offenders' access to driver's licenses. Policymakers can (a) amend driver's license restrictions to minimize barriers to access for ex-offenders as appropriate and (b) ensure exit procedures assist individuals with obtaining driver's licenses or other identification upon release. Legislation in Missouri provides restricted licenses to ex-offenders when they are required to operate a motor vehicle for work, to receive medical treatment, to attend an institution of higher education or an alcohol or drug treatment program, and any other circumstance the court finds may create an undue hardship.

Promote access to health care. Medical care is essential to work preparation and has been shown to reduce recidivism. Many ex-offenders are eligible for Medicaid but face expiring eligibility due to time limits that continue during their incarceration. States can preserve this eligibility by suspending Medicaid during incarceration so that individuals are covered immediately after release. New York’s Medicaid Suspension Legislation suspends Medicaid for people entering prisons and jails with prior Medicaid enrollment and permits immediate reinstatement upon release.

Support opportunities for affordable housing. Access to affordable housing presents perhaps the greatest challenge to reentering the workforce. To promote access, policymakers can require that applicants are considered without undue attention to criminal records and can eliminate "one strike and you're out" rules that ban ex-offenders from public housing.[1] The District of Columbia handles denials of public housing on a case-by-case basis in order to discourage policies of blanket discrimination, which automatically deny an ex-offender housing. [2]

Lift or minimize bans on income subsidies. Federal law prohibits Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) subsidies and food stamps for individuals convicted of state or federal felony drug offenses. However, states have the options of limiting or eliminating this ban through legislation. The benefits provided through TANF and food stamps can be essential in enhancing the likelihood that ex-offenders successfully reenter the workforce. Because of the level of support they provide ex-offenders in maintaining work, a majority of states have eliminated or limited the federal ban.[3] A Maine law eliminated the ban on receiving TANF and food stamp benefits for ex-offenders with drug-related felonies.