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Jim Andrews does something most people wouldn’t: He runs a business that hires exclusively ex-felons.

Andrews believes strongly that “if every business in Chicago would hire or employ at least one ex-felon then recidivism would be cut way down.”

Recidivism is defined as a habitual relapse in crime, and it costs Illinois taxpayers a bundle–$21,844 per year for each inmate.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, up to 60 percent of ex-offenders can’t find legitimate employment during the first year of being released from prison.

A Crime and Justice Index study conducted by Chicago Metropolis 2020 indicated that approximately two-thirds of those released from state prisons are rearrested within three years.

There are many reasons why a criminal relapse occurs, but lack of employment is a main one, said Veronica Cunningham, who has worked in parole and probation for the past 30 years.

“If someone gets out of prison and has been there for 10 years, they don’t have any resources, the family may even be poor themselves and so they do whatever they can to put food in their stomach, whether that be selling drugs or whatever,” she said.

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