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The Paradox of Ernest Walker
How one former convict
continues to beat the odds:
He's got a steady job in a work-a-day world where ex-cons are considered
a risky hire
By Elizabeth Hanrahan
Ernest Walker is a walking contradiction. Conservatively dressed in black pants, ruddy brown leather shoes, and a wooly knit sweater, he hardly fits the stereotypical image of an ex-con. It’s hard to imagine this mild mannered man in shackles and an orange jumpsuit – traditional garb in Colorado prisons.
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| Ernest Walker on the job. |
Yet Walker is indeed familiar with that state issued
attire. Over the last fifteen years, he has been in and out of prison,
serving, in total, over six years of hard time.
Evidence of that time served peeks out from beneath his Sunday best, as
Walker relaxes in his Colorado Springs apartment after church, drinking
Pepsi and watching a Chris Rock movie on TV. Strapped around his left
ankle is a chunky silver bracelet, a monitoring device Walker must wear
24-hours a day as a condition of his parole. It is a sobering reminder
that, despite all other appearances, this man is indeed a convicted felon.
“Out of 14 kids in my family, I’m the only one that’s been to prison,” Walker says, raising the bottom of his pants to more fully display the electronic cuff. It is a gesture that embodies Walker’s frank acceptance of his past as well as the duality of his current situation.
This 46-year-old once traveled the world as a sailor in the Navy, and now can’t wander more than 100 feet from his apartment after 7 p.m., his mandatory curfew time. Moreover, he speaks unabashedly about both his religion and his incarceration, tales of his moral code and his lawlessness mingling in the same breath.
However, perhaps the most paradoxical aspect of Walker’s
life is his success in finding steady work. Ever since his release from
prison nearly two years ago, Walker has been working at a metal fabrication
company. He is an employed ex-con, a full-fledged member of the labor
force and a felon – two traits that are often difficult to combine.
In 2002 alone, there were nearly 4.7 million people on parole or probation, many of whom were reentering the workforce. Nearly 40 percent of these ex-cons were required by law to seek some kind of employment as a condition of their release, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The poor economy, combined with the stigma of a criminal record, has produced a very challenging environment for these afflicted job seekers.
“I can understand why some go back to their old behavior,” Walker says. “Getting the door slammed in your face can be discouraging.”
Hard Times
With unemployment rates reaching the highest levels
in years and layoffs occurring by the thousands, the prospect of finding
and keeping a job is becoming more and more difficult.
The
country’s unemployment rate is hovering at just over six percent,
according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s October 2003 survey.
Colorado itself is doing only marginally better with a rate of 5.6 percent.
For anyone seeking steady employment, these numbers are not encouraging. For those people who are traditionally disadvantaged in terms of employment, ex-cons being one such group, the news is quite alarming.
“There certainly has been an effect,” said Cristin Hall, the Assessment Coordinator for ComCor, Inc., a non-profit community corrections agency. Hall specializes in the screening of ex-felons, and assisting in their job placement inquiries.
“I have a lot of clients with certain skills that just aren’t being sought after,” she said. “There have been some companies that have closed down and just aren’t looking anymore. We encourage [our clients] to find whatever they can find and realize it’s not the end of the job hunt.”
ComCor, Inc. itself is feeling the effects of a sluggish economy, closing down many of its vocational programs due to a lack of finances.
The condition of the economy, however, is not the only obstacle facing ex-cons in the job market. On many standard job applications, there is a question specifically concerned with the state of an applicant’s criminal record. Most read: “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” with a box for yes, a box for no, and a few lines to offer explanation. A box checked yes is a red flag for many employers.
“Usually the biggest problem with a criminal record
is [the employers] want to know the nature of the crime,” Hall says.
Issues such as theft, rape and other types of sexual assault, “trust
issues” as Hall calls them, are what most concern prospective employers.
Often, the stigma of being an ex-con is difficult to overcome.
Ernest Walker recalls one such incident in which a company declined to employ him on the basis of his unlawful past. “One time in Denver, I got all the way past the interviews,” he remembers, “and then the lady said, ‘I’m sorry we can’t hire you after all.’”
Because he was a felon, and the company catered to “rich customers,” this woman didn’t see a future for Walker in that position. According to Walker, experiences such as that are not uncommon.
“I have a friend,” he says, “he always
gets discouraged because he’s 52 years old and can’t find
a job.” This friend, also an ex-con, is not alone.
The problem of securing employment for convicted felons
has become so difficult that the government has begun offering tax breaks
to any employer willing to hire them.
Despite these obstacles, however, Walker says he trusted in God to get him through the hard times. “I pray a lot. I still have a lot of faith that every door will not be closed.”
Sigma Metals, Inc., a steel fabrication company in Colorado
Springs, had exactly the kind of open door policy that Walker was praying
for.
“Sigma was about the fifth” company to receive Walker’s application, and he has been working for them ever since.
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