Would you hire someone with a felony conviction? These companies in Macon, Gray might
A 43-year-old mother was rejected from countless jobs after being convicted of felony theft by taking in 2013 in Houston County.
When Angela Scott was released from jail for the final time, she applied for several jobs that advertised they would hire people with a criminal history, but they turned her away.
“They’re like, ‘This place hires felons,’ and they wouldn’t hire me,” Scott said. “People like that … still get looked at under a magnifying glass.”
A new program in a nearby county plans to change that.
The Jones County Sheriff’s Office launched a Second Chance Employers list in late October. It includes companies willing to hire people like Scott. The agency hopes the list will expand career opportunities and build an inclusive job force, said Madilyn Madray, the public information officer.
“The sheriff really believes in giving people second chances and knocking down the amount of people that come back or re-offend,” Madray said of Sheriff R.N. “Butch” Reece.
The list includes local companies that are either “open to hiring individuals with felony records” or open to it “on a case-by-case basis,” the sheriff’s office’s website said.
Most companies that signed up are small businesses that involve physical labor, machinery and kitchen roles. Prior experience is not required for many of them, which is helpful for people previously incarcerated.
Companies interested can sign up to be on the growing platform, which had 10 businesses listed by Friday.
Madray expects deputies in the Jones County Jail to direct people with these questions to the new resource, and it’s publicly available online.
“We have people in our jail … they’ve asked before, ‘What do I do after this? How do I re-enter into society and not fall on my face?’” Madray said. “Connecting them with someone local that can maybe help them get back on their feet is the biggest part of why I wanted to create this.”
‘It didn’t do anything’
Scott doubts all employers on the list will stay true to their word, she explained from personal experience.
“If they were to hire those people and not be prejudiced against those people because the things that they’ve been through, it would be a good thing,” she said. “It was told to us when I was back in that situation, and it didn’t do anything.”
Scott now works as an executive administrator for a house of people in recovery, and as a spiritual and recovery specialist while she goes through rehabilitation after being incarcerated. But she found these roles through word of mouth.
When Scott was previously under supervised release, she violated probation and wound up in and out of jails in Houston, Bibb and Fort Valley. Scott recognized others who couldn’t find stable jobs, and were booked again.
“That’s just discouraging, and it just makes you want to go back and do the same dumb stuff you were doing before,” Scott said.
Madray thinks the list will reduce people’s likelihood of returning to jail, and give them a healthy outlet.
“The whole purpose of creating the list is to drop the recidivism,” Madray said.
Similar lists exist in other areas, according to the Georgia Justice Project, a nonprofit that advocates for people with criminal records.
Indeed, a global job search website, allows people to search for keywords like “felony friendly.”
‘Second chance’ companies in Gray, Macon
These companies are open to hiring people with felony records, according to the Jones County Sheriff’s Office’s Second Chance Employers list:
- Advantage Doors
- Cherokee Brick
- Middle Georgia Staffing Solutions
- Nathan Stone Painting
- Robert Bentley Roofing
- Roberts Timber Company
These companies are open to hiring people with felony records on a case-by-case basis: