Last Trip to Prison

Steve Cole writes:

Prison being no fun, many prisoners have no desire for a second trip, but 80% of released convicts go back. Some of them are just career criminals and the three-strike law should put a stop to that nonsense, but many just have a hard time making a new start outside. I happened to see a National Geographic show last night on a convict who served 14 years (his second trip) and didn't want to go back for life. (I realize that all 50 states have slightly different systems, and not all states have exactly the same failures.)

1. He got a junior college degree while behind bars. Good for him. Good that California had such a system. Every state should. I'd rather inmates be hitting the books than the weight machines.

2. First thing he had to do was go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and get a new driver's license. Why isn't there a system to issue these to prisoners during their last days behind bars?

3. He found that somebody else had gotten a driver's license in his name (fraudulently). Why did not DMV have his file flagged "this guy is in prison" to prevent this?

4. It took him 91 days to find a job because people would not hire ex-convicts is they could avoid it. Perhaps the state could give a $100 tax break to employers who hire an ex-con who graduated from junior college while behind bars? Reward the guys who really are trying to turn their lives around!