I recently read a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, a man that I deeply admired.  Dr. King commented once that, "Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."
I thought about how things have or have not changed since Dr. King's untimely death in 1968.  Dr. King wanted peace and justice for all people, which is a good idea, isn't it?  Dr. King was opposed to war and injustice.  I have often thought that if Dr. King were living today, he would have joined with us in supporting better conditions for our incarcerated friends and loved-ones.
After 35 years, I don't think that Dr. King's logic has registered with society. We are still fighting wars and answering violence with violence.  Sadly, the "eye-for-an-eye" faction of our society is still dominant.
This person is only partially right.  Perhaps some do not want employment.  I am sure that some would rather have an executive position with a six-digit salary, rather than that job at Wal-Mart or McDonald's.  --Hell, I wish that I could have a "six-digit" salary!  I know of people who have never been jailed that do not want employment (actually, I rather be an unemployed 'Lotto' winner!).
So, incarceration is not something that makes people not want to work.  Even if it was, why should we give up on them?
The person who wrote me has chosen the easy, non-thinking answer.  It is easier to write people off than to solve their problems, isn't it?   This individual had nothing to say about the system that the ex-offender is coming out of. They did not comment on the system that chose to ignore the warning signs that were there before the person broke the laws.  What about the system that may have jailed the person unjustly and unfairly, while looking for a "body," rather than the actual perpetrator of the crime? There is also the system that rewards people who have enough money to hire good attorneys and punishes people who cannot.
Then, there are those who have been executed, because our "system" thinks that killing is a good thing that will make things better.

I recently received some correspondence, saying, "It does no good to
offer jobs to ex-offenders.  They don't want the jobs, anyway."

Regards,

Michael S. Anderson