SEN. KITCHEN TO HOST RALLY SUPPORTING SECOND CHANCE LEGISLATION

            HARRISBURG, October 3 – State Sen. Shirley Kitchen will urge lawmakers to give ex-offenders a clearer path toward professional success at her upcoming rally at the Capitol in Harrisburg.

The Second Chance Legislation Rally will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 10:30 a.m. at the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg.

            “Steady, well-paying employment is essential for ex-offenders to rejoin society and avoiding a return to prison,” Kitchen said.  “That’s why it is so important to give former offenders a better opportunity for a second chance.”

 Over the past several years, Kitchen has strongly advocated giving people who are convicted of a non-violent felony a second chance to enter the workforce, to obtain a good-paying job, and to go into businesses that are now denied to people who have paid their debts to society.

Currently, Pennsylvania does not have any law to regulate the way employers accept or deny employment because of a criminal background.

Meanwhile, prisons across the state continue to grow. The 2007-08 budget recently allocated to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections $1.6 billion — an 11.5 percent increase — which is due, in part to the expansion of current state correctional institutions (SCI) and the re-opening of SCI Pittsburgh.

“Pennsylvania prisons have become a revolving door of repeat offenders,” Kitchen said. “Something more must be done to correct the problem, and building more prisons is not the answer.”

            Enacting a Second Chance law would impact the 10,000 Pennsylvania inmates who will be released from prison this year.

“Recidivism is a major problem in Pennsylvania. Men and women are returning home from prison and can’t get a decent job. Without a job, their chances of returning to their former criminal habits are very high,” Kitchen said. “We have the opportunity to give non-violent ex-offenders the chance to leave behind a troubled past and look forward to a positive future, and the best way to do that is giving them better access to a quality job.”

Guest speakers at the event include Sharon Dietrich, managing attorney of the Employment Unit of Community Legal Services; Malik Aziz, assistant director of the Mayor's Office for the Reentry of Ex-offenders and the president of the Ex-offenders Association of Pennsylvania; Leon King, Philadelphia Prison System commissioner; and Andy Hoover, community organizer of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

            Last year, Kitchen introduced a measure (Senate Bill 1060) that was aimed at changing the way background checks affect hiring. Unfortunately, the legislation was never acted upon.