Many "upright" people following the doctrine of predestination, believe that if you are convicted of felony it is a sign that you are irredeemably evil. And that you should not be employed by anybody, that you should be forced to break the law again (to demonstrate your wickedness) and spend the rest of life in jail.
Such "justice" hungry men believe that there should be only two types of punishments - life in prison without parole and death sentence.
They also tend to believe that once you are charged with crime you are guilty of something, so your deserve conviction even if you did not commit the offense with which you are charged.
Good point.
Many of these young men and women are convicted on drug offenses. They do their time and it would serve society much better if they are allowed a chance when they are released, otherwise, as you say, they fall back into the lifestyle. There are many jobs--construction, landscaping, cleaning, factory work, which their criminal record would not necessarily affect. Obviously one would not hire a thief to work at a bank.
A young man who cannot find a job feels useless and he turns to the only thing he knows--crime. I firmly believe that if many types of jobs were not filled by illegals, many of these felons and/or undereducated folks would have a better chance at life.
I of course, think murders, rapists, child molesters and violent criminals should remain in prison for life. I'm not talking about them.