My name is Jessie. I live in Tennessee. When I was nineteen years old I was a little wild not having any knowledge of the consequences I’d face. At the age of nineteen I was charged with a schedule two drug offense and got indicted on another schedule two drug offense. I was arrested twice and it was my first time being in trouble. My lawyer had the two charges ran concurrent because they happened so close together but I had to do some prison time being a first time offender. By the time I was twenty years old, I was sent to prison with a nine year sentence. My life has been a disaster ever since. When I apply for jobs I have to constantly explain myself for something I did being young and dumb. This has been eleven years ago and I’m thirty years old now. I’ve made so many changes in my life. Everyday I strive to better myself and my life’s situation. It just seems like the system is meant for people like me to fail. Soon as you do an application and that question comes up, people don’t want to give you a chance; if the job pays a little more money or easier. But, if its a lower paying job, requires harder work and ten thru twelve hours a day; that’s the job I can usually get. Since then I have completed the G.E.D. program, I go to college, raise my children and work part-time. With the economy like it is now, I pray that the law makes some adjustments to give people a chance to better themselves. God forgives, how come the system can’t?

User story by jessie in Tennessee

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