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Stories of those Affected |
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The following story is taken from an article in the Gotham Gazette in May, 2006.
Marc La Cloche spent his time in prison training to be a barber, ready to apply his newfound skills upon his release in 2000. But the Bronx native found himself facing a surreal situation when he applied for a barber’s license: Because of his felony conviction, his application was denied. Owing to state law, La Cloche could only practice his trade -- taught him by the state’s Department of Corrections -- if he remained behind bars.
An administrative law judge made an exception to the law and granted him a barber's license, but New York State appealed the decision, and the license was revoked. La Cloche died last November, never having obtained his license.
The following testimony is taken from an article in the Buffalo News in September, 2008.
A little over a year ago, I walked out of Fishkill Correctional Facility, one of the 17 state prisons where I had been confined for 37 years for my involvement in a robbery in which three people were killed on the East Side of Buffalo....
Although I never thought I would see the outside of a prison wall, I took advantage of every educational opportunity afforded - many of which, unfortunately, are no longer available to inmates - to me in prison.
I earned five college degrees, including two master's degrees, completed several apprenticeship programs and took virtually every counseling and self-help program available.
I came out of prison an entirely different person, with the goal of repaying society for teh trust adn confidence placed in my by the New York State Board of Parole.
Unfortunately, my education and training have not yielded the employment prospects I had anticipated. I recognize the reluctance of some employers to take on someone with my prior - and I stress prior - record, but I hope that in the next year I am able to better utilize the education that taxpayers to generously provided me with, and the experiences gleaned from my decades behind bars, to help people through motivational speaking and other means.
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