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The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 12:31:36 PM EST
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Imagine going to prison for 11 years, and while there, taking courses, learning a trade and excelling at it. You should be a shoo-in for getting a new start of life as a law-abiding citizen when you get out. Not in New York, not if you want to be a hairstylist and have been to prison.

Mr. [Marc] La Cloche served 11 years in New York prisons for first-degree robbery. While behind bars, he turned his life around. He learned a trade, barbering. He even had the image of a barber's clippers and comb tattooed on his right arm.

In 2000, as he prepared to be freed, he applied for a required state license. He was denied it. But that decision was reversed when reviewed by a hearing officer. For a while after his release, Mr. La Cloche worked in a Midtown barber shop. That job did not last long.

New York's secretary of state, who has jurisdiction in these matters, appealed the granting of the license and won. Mr. La Cloche's "criminal history," an administrative law judge ruled, "indicates a lack of good moral character and trustworthiness required for licensure." In plain language, the fact that Mr. La Cloche had been in prison proved that he was unworthy for the trade that the state itself taught him in prison.

Where is Joseph Heller when we need him?

A judge finally ordered the state to reconsider Mr. La Cloche's fitness for a license. He was denied again as being morally unfit to cut hair because of his crime.

He is now on public assistance, he says, and receives disability payments for a bad hip. Apparently, state officials believe that New Yorkers are better served having a former convict on welfare rather than in a career. One of his plans were he to get a license, Mr. La Cloche said, would be to team with "a bunch of barbers" to cut the hair of young people living in state institutions.

"What I really want is to have this contact with these kids so I can hopefully get to them and change their life around," he said. "I was raised in these institutions. But this barber license is really holding me up."

La Cloche is still fighting for his license with the assistance of a pro bono lawyer. He is not alone, according to the Joanne Page, the executive director of the Fortune Society, which helps ex-offenders.

It is one thing to prevent, say, a child molester from driving a school bus, she said. But to keep a convicted robber from cutting hair? The authorities, she pointed out, trusted Mr. La Cloche enough to wield sharp instruments in a maximum-security prison.

Stupid is as stupid does, the saying goes, and the NY Secretary of State's office can't get any dumber than this.

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    The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence | 19 comments (19 topical)
    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 01:19:02 PM EST
    I could see them putting his license on probation if he was still paying restitution, and yanking it if he didn't make a good faith effort to pay the restitution, but to yank it just because he has a felony conviction? We're not talking about a security clearance here.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 01:24:08 PM EST
    Tatto'ed it on his arm, How Sweet...brings tears to my eyes. Seriously, though, this is a bit stupid. Who cares? as long as this guy wasn't slashing people with a straight razor, why not let the guy try to make an honest living? I do understand if the state didn't want to give him a license to be an armed Security guard or something, but a Hairdresser? That is pretty stupid.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 01:29:53 PM EST
    Oh Well! You couldn't be a nurse, physician or teacher either!

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 02:07:41 PM EST
    Um, I think you guys are missing the point. The Sate of New York paid to have this guys trained as a barber. Shouldn't the Dept of Correction know what professions can be lawfully held by former felons?

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 02:18:40 PM EST
    This was a very good piece (boy, what idiocy from the state officials), and kind of ironic in a way--Clyde Haberman, the NYT writer here, is a fairly infamous second-chance case himself, having been cashiered from the Times in his intern days for foolishly putting some fake results in the sports agate. Haberman's presence on the Times, after many years of working his way back and proving that he'd learned from his mistake, is an example of the kind of thinking that society used to encourage. Now, it would seem that it's one strike and you're out. Easier to just throw people away permanently for the crime of screwing up once, I guess.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 02:22:28 PM EST
    The secy of state should be fired for appealing the decision to grant the license, then he should have to support the delicensed ex-inmate for the rest of his life. And he should be forced to take a logic course over and over again till he passes it.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#7)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 02:43:09 PM EST
    They wanna know if he's rehabilitated himself enough to cut hair?!? Alice's Restaurant all over again.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 02:58:04 PM EST
    Its not just NY, it's a pretty common practice in most states. The Texas system (years ago, in the 70's and 80's) trained inmates to be medical technologists and surgical assistants, with full knowledge that the licensing boards wouldn't allow them to practice in the free world. Yes, it's stupid...but remember, we're talking about people who are too stupid to do anything but be a prison guard. Stay at it long enough, never have an independent thought, and you can move up to administration./

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 03:36:30 PM EST
    Too bad Bush-friend Ken Lay hasn't gotten HIS chance to learn a trade. First-degree robbery? Ken Lay destroyed the retirement of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and bilked several states of billions of dollars. And he gets a jacuzzi every night, with all the martinis he can drink - the good life. -I- wouldn't be safe with scissors cutting that b*stard's hair.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 03:58:38 PM EST
    Couldn't he just move to NJ? Or any other state that allows felons a hair-cutting license?

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 04:10:40 PM EST
    Come on TalkLeft that is normal business in out little nation.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 04:16:35 PM EST
    This guy can't get a license to cut hair & yet Martha Stewart has made 500 million while in camp cup cake.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#13)
    by Avedon on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 05:18:59 PM EST
    Don't worry - by the end of Bush's term I expect we'll just have a universal death sentence for all convicted felons and solve the problem of what they're going to do once they're released. And also solve the "organ-legging" problem....

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#14)
    by wishful on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 05:44:05 PM EST
    Avedon, the universal death sentence for convicted felons is probably on the agenda. As for the rest of us, it will be pre-emptive prison upon birth since the only good baby is a pre-born one. Of course, the aristocracy won't be bothered with the tedious prison thingy. They will be too busy running the world. And they won't have to lie any more. Anyone who cares will already be in prison. They have a good start--over 2 million and the rate is increasing as we speak.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 06:37:56 PM EST
    So what are these people supposed to do when they get out of jail? If you want to see people with a lack of moral character and trustworthiness, just look at who is in the White House.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:20:41 PM EST
    Once again, the pressure to get tough on crime takes priority over helping a man get his life straight after he's paid his debt. Is it a wonder why so many people wind up back in prison again? Sure, you've got people who just don't get it, and then you've got people who'll pull the rug out from under those who do get it. That barber needs to sue the state, get his license back, and a few bucks for his trouble. And more power to him.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#17)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 09:21:39 PM EST
    Scroll down in the article. Since the guy can't work at the job the state trained him for, he's on welfare:
    He is now on public assistance, he says, and receives disability payments for a bad hip. Apparently, state officials believe that New Yorkers are better served having a former convict on welfare rather than in a career.
    Nice.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#18)
    by chupetin on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 11:02:52 PM EST
    Gerry, Nice to see you agree with us on some things, makes trying to understand your point of view much easier, at least for me.

    Re: The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 05, 2005 at 06:58:34 AM EST
    Why does he need a "license" to start a business in the first place? I thought it was in places like Castro's Cuba free enterprise was regulated by the state like that.

    The Catch-22 of a Prison Sentence | 19 comments (19 topical)