Feds: Gwinnett man must pay $697K to rappers, NFL players he defrauded

"The sparks flew, the torch blazed at nearly 10,000 degrees as the metal melted, pooling at the joint that connected two flat steel plates. Bright enough to blind a careless onlooker, Gage Bryant’s torch has not just done the welding these past few months, it has also become a kind of beacon for him to follow, a glow of hope that could lead to a life far away from the prisons that have confined him for 11 years. That hope is real enough, said Shontese Renfroe-Wilson, program coordinator at the Gwinnett County’s department of corrections. The course where Bryant learned welding was the second given at the county prison in Lawrenceville, Renfroe-Wilson said. “The first class graduated and got jobs immediately. Right now, we’ve got a success rate of 100%.” Pretty much all resumes are tainted by a prison past. But the unemployment rate is at a 50-year low. Some skills are in short supply, some companies are shorthanded and worker flaws are a little less of an issue than they were when joblessness was rife. Advocates may argue that it’s a matter of justice, that ex-offenders have paid the penalty for their crime and should not be handicapped in their efforts to become productive members of the workforce. But it’s much more practical than that, contends Katherine Perry, an English professor at Georgia State University and a co-founder of the Prison Education Project. Ex-offenders who cannot find work can need social or health services that others subsidize. Worse, with no other source of income, they may slip back into crime. Moreover, business growth can be dampened by a lack of workers contributing. “It’s not just bleeding-heart liberals and English professors,” she said. “It is an economic issue.” Whatever the reason, jobseekers who’ve done time behind bars would welcome any improvement. Their labor market is much tougher than the one most Americans face." By Michael E. Kanell - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution