Video

St. Cyr and the Power of a Second Chance

St. Cyr’s story illustrates the need for supportive reentry services for formerly incarcerated individuals who face barriers to accessing employment due to exclusionary policies.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people are released from prison and millions more are released from jails across the United States. Like St. Cyr, many of these individuals are young people who will face both readiness and access barriers to finding employment, including lacking educational or employment experience or proper identification and being shut out from the labor market due to exclusionary policies against those with criminal records. St. Cyr’s story highlights the need for supportive reentry services and demonstrates the impact second chances can have on individuals, families, and communities.

The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here. American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.

Authors

Akua Amaning

Director, Criminal Justice Reform

Allie Preston

Senior Policy Analyst, Criminal Justice Reform

David Ballard

Former Associate Director, Economic Policy

Marina Zhavoronkova

Former Senior Fellow

Producers

Andrew Sonntag

Former Events Video Producer

Hai-Lam Phan

Senior Director, Creative

Toni Pandolfo

Video Producer, Production

Ala Al Sadi

Former Video Producer

Team

Criminal Justice Reform

We focus on developing policies to shrink the justice system’s footprint, improve public health and safety, and promote equity and accountability.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.