In 1994, Halim Kaygisiz was sentenced to what would become a 17-year term in prison for a violent carjacking. Today, almost a decade after his release, Kaygisiz is director of health outreach services for the Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk County, where he helps low-income Long Islanders find services they need.
While his is an employment success story, landing a job after incarceration or a conviction often poses a major challenge for Long Islanders with criminal records. Many say that even in an economic landscape bolstered by record low unemployment and an increased number of jobs, stigma and post-conviction restrictions can make the interview and application process a struggle.
According to estimates from the Prison Policy Initiative, a Massachusetts-based think tank that advocates for prison reform, the unemployment rate for the former inmates reached 27.3% in 2008 _ the latest year such data are available _ compared with 5.8% in the general population that same year.
