Once an adult is convicted of a felony, that person is always and forever a “felon” for the rest of his or her life. In Texas, there is no way to reduce the impact of the permanent label “felon”. It is on the person’s criminal record forever, and most felony conviction records are available to the public on the internet.

Indirect or collateral consequences of felony punishment in Texas extend deep into the life of the individual and the community, and have wide ranging ramifications. For most felons, time in prison begins a life-long series of punishments. While it might seem reasonable for certain violent felons to be punished in all of these ways for the rest of their lives, the punishments are so permanent and harmful that as a society we must closely examine who we are subjecting to these policies.

Legal barriers and roadblocks that face felons in Texas severely limit access to all of life’s most fundamental necessities – food, clothing, shelter, employment and education.

1. Civil Rights

“Equal rights” does not apply to convicted felons in Texas.  According to the Texas Constitution, felons are not equal under Texas law.  The law ensures a felon can never exercise many of the rights that other people have to participate in our democratic government or access any degree of political power.

A felon in Texas can never hold a public elective office.   A felon can not serve on a jury or a grand jury in Texas.  If a felon is ever a witness in a Texas courtroom, the fact that they are a felon is automatically admissible as evidence in court.  A felon can not legally protect a family member’s estate by acting as an executor or administrator of an estate in probate court.

2. Housing

In determining eligibility for public housing, federal law gives local public housing agencies the ability to deny housing to virtually anyone with a criminal background. Each local public housing agency sets its own policy about whether it will ban felons from public housing. Local housing authorities can consider the individual circumstances and history of applicants if that is their policy. They can decide whether to consider arrests that have not resulted in a conviction in eviction proceedings.  They can determine how long to deny housing assistance to people with criminal records. They can decide what, if anything, qualifies as rehabilitation for the purpose of lifting the bar to public housing.

Private landlords can, and usually do, refuse to rent to felons. Even felons raising children are usually limited to the worst part of town to find an apartment because no other landlord will rent to them. No matter how long or how hard a felon works to improve his or her life, and no matter how many children depend on the felon for support, many felons must raise their family in substandard housing because of the label “felon”.

3. Employment

Prison inmates who learn marketable job skills in prison return there less than half as often as inmates who do not. Most people agree that career-oriented employment is key to long-term positive change.

Texas does not prohibit discrimination by employers based on a criminal record. Employers in Texas usually ask job applicants about arrests and convictions, and almost always refuse to employ felons regardless of individual circumstance or business necessity.

A felon who has been convicted of a drug crime can be an attorney, but not a notary public. And a felon can get permission to be a licensed physician, but not a physician’s assistant. Clearly, the legal bans on employing a felon in Texas are irrational.

As an additional barrier to employment, Texas has over 100 state laws that forbid a felon working certain types of jobs. Just a few employment opportunities legally banned for felons in Texas are:

• Labor union officer or labor organizer,

• Pesticide applicator (ineligible for 5 years),

• Person who issues parking tickets for disabled parking spaces,

• Court interpreter,

• Meat and poultry inspection service,

• Auctioneer,

• Athletic trainer (at the discretion of the licensing agency),

• Insurance agent, counselor, or adjustor (discretion of agency),

• Interior designer (discretion of agency),

• Acupuncturist (discretion of agency),

• Midwife (discretion of agency),

• Mortgage broker,

• Distributor or manufacturer of medical devices (discretion of agency),

• Speech – Language pathologist (discretion of agency),

• Hearing aid fitter or distributor (discretion of agency),

• Physical therapist (discretion of agency),

• Dental hygienist (discretion of agency),

• Marriage or family counselor,

• Monitor or aid on a school bus,

• Registered nurse (discretion of agency),

• Chiropractor (discretion of agency),

• Physician assistant,

• Psychologist,

• Private security detection device salesperson,

• Bingo worker, supply manufacturer or distributor, or service provider (ineligible for 10 years),

• Coin-operated machine business license,

• Business license holder,

• Vehicle storage facility operator (ineligible for 3 years).

Laws banning felons from doing certain jobs in Texas do not appear to be consistent or logical. Some are prohibited only for a certain number of years while others can be decided at the discretion of a board or commission based on personal circumstances.  Whether or not the legal bans on felon employment in Texas make sense, they are very real barriers to success.

Texas should revisit the list of banned jobs so that felons are only excluded for reasons of business necessity.  In addition, Texas should offer a certificate of rehabilitation which would lift the bar to employment for a felon who obtains one.  At this time, six other states (Arizona, California, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey and New York) offer such an opportunity to felons.

4. Education

Federal and state law discourages felons from obtaining higher education.  Federal law states that students convicted of a drug-related offense are ineligible for grants, loans and work assistance.  This federal barrier cannot be altered by the states. No other class of offense, including violent offenses, sex offenses, repeat offenses, or alcohol-related offenses, results in the automatic denial of education financial aid eligibility.

Felons in Texas can not receive most state-based higher education financial aid including prepaid higher education tuition scholarships.  Felons are not eligible for a Toward Excellence, Access & Success (TEXAS) grant or a TEXAS grant II for public, private or two-year institutions of higher education.

5. Food and necessities.

The 1996 federal welfare law prohibits anyone convicted of a drug-related felony from receiving federally funded food stamps and cash assistance(also known as TANF - Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). This is a lifetime ban-- even if someone has completed his or her sentence, overcome an addiction, been employed but got laid off, or earned a certificate of rehabilitation.

States can maintain the federal lifetime ban on cash assistance and food stamps, but they also have the option of passing legislation to limit the ban or eliminate it altogether. Texas has adopted the federal drug felon ban on public assistance.   No person in Texas who receives a felony drug conviction after 1996 is eligible to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or food stamps.

“Effective preparation of prison inmates to succeed in the outside world must become one of the highest priorities of both legislative policy makers and corrections professionals alike. We must fully fund and integrate current re-entry programs into a seamless re-entry initiative which begins with cognitive behavior training, offers correctional industries job training and certification in recognized work skills, provides in-prison drug and alcohol treatment, technical work and life skills training.”

Quote from Representative Ray Allen, Chairman of the Corrections Committee in the Texas House of Representatives, Effective Corrections Requires More Than Tough Prisons, American Legislative Exchange Council Issue Analysis, April 2004.