RIALTO/ SAN BERNARDINO

By Chris Levister

Michelle Freeman is no stranger to the pulls, prods and humiliation of finding a job.

In less than a month she filled out more than 30 applications. Freeman, who has an associate degree in business, is bright, articulate and driven to reenter society after serving 11 months in prison for possession of a controlled substance. "Walking out of those prison gates was the beginning of the rest of my life. So I thought."

As she fills out an application, she comes upon the fatal question: "Have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony by a criminal or military court? List all convictions. Attach additional sheets if necessary."

"To a person with a conviction in their past, the question might as well read "ex-cons need not apply," says the 40-something mother of two sons.

After being released Freeman eagerly entered the San Bernardino based Time for Change Sober Living program. Within days she was beating the pavement looking for work.

"I had all these plans. I started putting in applications for jobs. Suddenly there was this wall. Everytime I went to fill out an application I would break out in a cold sweat. Checking the yes box was like being stabbed repeatedly in the back," Freeman says fighting back tears.

Last year Freeman -- desperate to find work - lied on an application. "I crossed my heart and checked no. To my surprise I not only got an interview - I got the job."

Michelle Freeman and Tasha Banken want fairness for law abiding ex-offenders, who are often barred from employment, housing, student loans and public assistance because of youthful mistakes, and minor crimes committed in the distant past.

Found on an increasing number of applications for jobs, housing, scholarships, loans, and even public assistance, "the box" has become one of the most significant barriers facing the more than 50 million people in the United States who have a criminal record that will show up on a routine background check.

Even after having paid fines, completed community service and time served in prison or jail people like 36 year old Tasha Banken, convicted of commercial burglary are forced to disclose the past over and over.

"It's like you walk out of one prison cell into another," Banken says. "When I check a box revealing a prior conviction on an application I am almost never called back by the employer."

Last week the San Bernardino City Council rejected a proposal to remove questions about job seekers' criminal history from municipal job applications. Instead, council members voted to move questions about convictions to the end of the city application form.

San Bernardino was the first Inland government agency to consider "Ban the Box," a nationwide effort to remove criminal background questions from employment applications.

Kim Carter, lead organizer for the San Bernardino chapter of All of Us or None/Ban the Box, criticized a report on the subject by the city's personnel director Linn Livingston.

"The report to the council was politically motivated, incomplete and inaccurate." Carter insists banning the box does not require the employer to hire anyone, nor does it prohibit the employer from conducting a background check prior to the job offer. "We are not attempting to keep employers from doing background checks. We agree a person with a drug abuse history should not be considered for a job in a pharmacy. However, to systematically bar an applicant from consideration because of a criminal past is morally wrong." said Carter who served prison time for drug use.

Livingston defended the city's long standing application procedures, pointing out that current hiring practices consider how long ago an offense occurred, the seriousness of the crime and its relevance to the position sought.

Carter predicted the council's decision will come home to roost. "San Bernardino

locks up more people per capita than any other city in the state. The consequences are huge - eventually 75 to 80 percent of those people will be released back into the community."  

Across the country cities and counties are undoing the stigma and discrimination that follows people with criminal records. Major U.S. cities (including Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis,

San Francisco, St. Paul and Alameda County California) are calling the dreaded question - hypocritical and discriminatory. As Mayor Richard Daley explained when he announced Chicago's new hiring policy. "Implementing this new policy won't be easy, but it's the right thing to do....We can not ask private employers to consider hiring former prisoners unless the City practices what it preaches."

Other big cities like Philadelphia, Newark, N.J.,  Indianapolis and Los Angeles - all currently considering the "Ban the Box" measure - are ground zero for the record numbers of people with a criminal record who are now struggling to find work and contribute to their communities. The U.S. locks up more people than any other nation, and therefore releases more people from prison each year - more than 650,000 per year (120,000 per year in L.A. County alone). And with a job market that increasingly locks out people with criminal convictions experts say it is no wonder that nearly 70% of people who come home from California prisons return within one year of their release.

"How can we in good conscience expect people with past convictions to turn their lives around when we force them to wear shackles," said Supervisor Yvonne Burke. Her motion called the Fair Employment Resolution would remove the criminal conviction question from L.A. applications. The measure has widespread city council support including  recommendations from former police chief Bernard Parks and the city's personnel department. 

"After putting in so many applications," says Freeman, "You feel numb, discouraged and humiliated. Then the survival mode kicks in and signs of the old criminal behavior reemerge."

Freeman's message to employers:  "Give me a job paying $15 an hour and help me contribute to my community or deny me a job and pay my health care costs plus a minimum of $100,000 a year to incarcerate me."