Missouri lawmakers effort reentry program to help inmates secure jobs

QUINCY (WGEM) - Missouri lawmakers are trying to make it easier for inmates released from prison to find jobs.

The goal of the Reentry 2030 initiative is to have all 50 states working at state and local levels to encourage successful integration for all people with criminal records by the year 2030.

Missouri Department of Corrections officials said they want 85% of incarcerated Missourians to have a job within 30 days of their release.

Dionysos Soubasis served about two decades in the Southeast Correctional Center in Missouri before his release in 2021.

Now, working as a sales consultant for Kunes Honda, he said he’s blessed to have gotten a job after his release, but not all inmates have the same experience.

“Guys like me that had a lot of time like that they didn’t come in there and offer us any type of opportunity because, if you have a life sentence or life without things like that, they don’t really worry about you,” Soubasis said. “They’re worried about the people who are to be released within, you know, so many years, a short amount of time so if you’ve got a life sentence or life without, or 30 years or whatever the situation is like that, you’re the last to get the opportunity for anything.”

Soubasis has been named “Salesperson of the Month” and “Team Honda MVP” since beginning his work at the dealership almost a year and a half ago.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson, who is a former county sheriff, proclaimed April as Second Chance Month.

The governor said he believes criminals must still pay the price, but he also believes many who go to prison, can be rehabilitated and re-enter the workforce.

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