{"id":7925,"date":"2012-07-12T09:29:50","date_gmt":"2012-07-12T14:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=7925"},"modified":"2012-12-27T13:37:51","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T19:37:51","slug":"ex-offender-helps-build-careers-by-giving-felons-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/07\/12\/ex-offender-helps-build-careers-by-giving-felons-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Offender Helps Build Careers by Giving Felons Work"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Lonnie Hunt takes a break on a job site to place an employment ad for two additional workers. Hunt, an ex-felon who received construction training in prison, often hires other ex-offenders to help give their careers a start.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Hiring former inmates isn’t a priority, or an option, for many Oklahoma business owners.\u00a0But Lonnie Hunt says felons are often better workers than those who’ve never been behind bars.<\/p>

Hunt should know \u2014 He’s been to prison. And now he does the hiring.<\/p>\n

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BY LOGAN LAYDEN<\/h5>\n

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The male unemployment rate is inflated by more than a full percentage point because the country\u2019s convicted felons have such a hard time finding work,\u00a0according to a 2010 report<\/a>\u00a0from the Center for Economic Research and Policy Research.<\/p>

Finding a job \u2014 especially a good job \u2014 helps reduce\u00a0recidivism, corrections officials and criminologists say. Ex-offenders who are employed have better odds never returning to prisons, which saves Oklahoma taxpayers<\/a> about $20,000 per inmate each year.<\/p>\n

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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Lonnie Hunt directs workers and takes calls from the roof of an Oklahoma City home that suffered roof damage from a recent hailstorm. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Building a Future<\/h4>

Home repairs are still underway in northwest Oklahoma City following last year\u2019s major hailstorm. Along Westchester Avenue, work crews strip damaged shingles from roofs and nail new ones down in their place.<\/p>\n

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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

A painter touches up trim on an Oklahoma City home damaged in a hailstorm.<\/p>\n<\/div>

“Business is good, business is good,” says Hunt, owner of Guaranteed Construction, which employs more than a dozen workers.<\/p>

Hunt worked in construction trades most of his life, and his sun-weathered features serve as proof. He received a plumbing certification from a CareerTech Skills Center while he served time at the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington.<\/p>

“I had a robbery charge, so, at that time I was incarcerated about four years,” he says.<\/p>

A local plumbing company gave Hunt a second chance when he was released from prison. In 2008, Hunt started his own business and started trying to repay the kindness.\u00a0At Guaranteed Construction, felons are welcome \u2014 as long as they’re\u00a0hard-workers.<\/p>

“The same thing applies with these other guys,” Hunt says. “When they get out, they have a problem finding jobs<\/a> because of them being ex-offenders. So, we\u2019re just, you know, passing it on.”<\/p>\n

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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Breon Bellamy went to prison for robbery when he was 18. He was trained as an electrician behind bars, and now has a job working for Guaranteed Construction in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Warden of Workers<\/h3>

Most of Hunt’s employees aren’t felons, but their appreciation for the job often means they’re more dedicated workers.<\/p>

“They know that, for one, they have all of these strikes against them when they get out,” Hunt says. “So when they finally get a job, they certainly want to hold on to it. Because they know it\u2019s so hard to get in the first place.”<\/p>

When Breon Bellamy arrives on the job site, Hunt gives the apprentice\u00a0electrician\u00a0his marching orders.<\/p>

Bellamy started started serving time for a robbery when he was just 18.\u00a0He had no job skills when he went in. But he says he\u2019s a totally different person now. He received training at a prison Skills Center<\/a>, too, and now he has a job \u2014 his first one, if you discount an early career selling drugs.<\/p>

“I knew when I got out here I couldn\u2019t act the way I acted the way I did in the penitentiary, or the way I acted before I got to the penitentiary, because I knew it wasn\u2019t right,” Bellamy said.<\/p>\n

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