(upbeat electronic music) - Working for a living, jobs, we talk a lot about that here on "One Detroit".

It's the future of work.

But for many people, people who have done prison time, it can be quite a challenge getting a job.

So we turn now to Mario Bueno, our special correspondent, specially qualified to talk about this.

Tell me about that, Mario.

- I served 19 years from the age of 16 for second degree murder, going on my second master's degree from like a legit school of business.

And even with that, it's extremely challenging finding employment because of that felony.

- So then we hear from others in a situation like yours, call them ex-offenders, returning citizens, just plain felons.

What is their future of work?

Take a look.

- We're up north, Petoskey, with construction company owner, Kim Uyeda, in the midst of remodeling her own property.

She scored a surplus bathroom countertop.

- I found it on the marketplace.

Being a felon, I know how to mind my budget.

You know, 17 cents an hour in prison, you learn to do a lot with a little.

So for me, in my line of work, it's been great because I don't advertise.

All my work is word of mouth.

- Right.

- And we've been able to employ myself and nine other people year round, you know, just on word of mouth.

- Uyeda, me, and others you'll meet today, we've all done prison time.

What were you charged with?

- Filing a false police report.

- And what was the situation?

- So at that time, I had been jumped outside of my home.

And I dialed 911 for an ambulance and they sent the sheriff's department.

I was disoriented, didn't know what was going on.

When I got to the hospital, the officer was like, explaining to me what he said happened.

And I was like, wait a minute.

So you're saying I did this?

So I did this.

- And who was he?

- That was the officer that was in charge of the sheriff's.

- You said he was explaining what he thought had happened?

- Yes.

- Uyeda says she knows who attacked her.

Says the sheriff wasn't buying it, that she hurt herself.

- And the next time I see him is later on that evening with an arrest warrant saying that I had confessed by stating that I did this.

- Uyeda couldn't remember what she told the officer.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor added on even more charges based on her 911 phone call.

- I got six years.

- Six years for filing a false police report.

- That's correct.

- Six years.

- Yep.

Because of the points system, even though my felony was nine years prior, I still called the points for it because it has to be 10 years before they drop the points off.

- The old felony?

Writing a bad check.

So this used to be the closet for this room over here?

- It wasn't even.

- It wasn't even?

Oh, yeah, 'cause you built another wall.

Her actual sentence?

Six to 20 years, a case study for those concerned about overly harsh sentencing.

But we're talking about how she's hit a limit with her business, her work, her livelihood.

When was the last time you actually made an attempt to get your contractor's license?

- It was two years ago.

So not only does it hurt me as a con as a person who wants to be a contractor and not being able to take a larger contract.

So there's financially I'm kept down to the 70% range instead of the 100% range, right?

But I can't employ as many people because I don't have as big of a project that I can take on without a license.

So financially, it's hurting accounting.

- Tax revenues.

Tax revenues.

- It's hurting tax revenues.

And it's also hurting because I'm not training new people to do what I do.

- [Mario] Michigan licensing requirements are clear: a no-go for Uyeda.

- I'm already doing all of the work.

(Mario chuckles) So the only thing I'm missing is this piece of paper.

- [Mario] Kenneth Nixon is a Wayne State student and employed with Safe and Just.

- I need to check in.

- [Mario] He advocates for returning citizens.

- Nixon, Kenneth Nixon.

- [Mario] He's networking at a symposium about just that at WSU.

- [Mario] Your wrongful conviction and then post-incarceration, how did that affect your employment opportunities?

- It still affects me to this day.

- And you've been home since when?

- 2021.

- Nixon did 16 years.

A double murder conviction overturned because of work by the prosecutor's Conviction Integrity Unit and the Cooley Law Innocence Project.

- There's a misconception that when you're exonerated your record gets expunged.

That is not a true statement.

There's an entire legal process that has to take place.

And it's still on my record two years later.

I applied for a big car company.

I have a family member that's a supervisor, has been a supervisor for decades there.

Gave me a referral.

And I go through the assessment process.

I pass everything.

I get a phone call from the background specialist and he says, "You failed the background check."

I'm like, how?

After about five or 10 minutes of me trying to explain that this was clearly an error, the error also says that I'm serving a life sentence right now.

So what do you think happened?

I broke outta prison and applied for a job at your company?

- Nixon did get another call back with a job offer, but he already found something else in which he's very qualified, having been trained in interpersonal skills behind bars, coupled with his life experience.

- Elevating the message.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

- I'm good.

How are you?

- [Mario] Here's my old friend, Aron Knall.

He's training for his barber's license down river in Southgate.

- I taught myself and I worked as a prison barber for 25, 30 years.

- 25 to 30 years.

- Yes.

And I really enjoyed it.

I found something that I could do that helped other peoples smile within a place like that.

- [Mario] Paroled after 35 years last fall, Knall went to an automotive aftermarket production plant and got the good news.

- I take the pleasure in offering you a full-time position as a general laborer on first shift.

So you were, it's not like you were just temporarily hired.

You were hired full-time.

- No, I was hired full-time.

I actually got hired.

I told 'em at the interview that I had just got outta prison, et cetera, et cetera.

- And what was your crime?

- Second degree murder.

- Second degree murder.

- Yes.

- Knall went to prison at 15, 35 years ago.

That first job out didn't last very long.

- Yep.

- And one day you worked?

- That's the one day I worked.

- Due to not meet the requirements of the pre-employment background screening.

Please turn in all your equipment, if after the report.

- She called me in the office.

She actually asked me to reapply for the job in like a year.

She said it was just too soon with me getting out.

They said that they watched me for the day, said that I was actually a excellent worker.

I got along with everybody.

But because of the history, they would have to let me go.

That didn't work out.

I just said, "Forget it, I'm going to school full-time."

What we gonna do today?

Came here and been going ever since.

- You know, we, we have expectations before we come home.

True or not true?

- True.

- And then life hits you, right?

Life hits you with a brick.

- Life hits you not with a brick, with a boulder.

- So my point is, be honest, you cried, didn't you?

- Yeah, I cried in the car on the way home.

I cried outta frustration.

At what point would I be seen for who I am today opposed to the kid that committed my crime?

- The common denominator for Aron Knall, Kenneth Nixon, and Kim Uyeda, they gained valuable training in prison and were able to apply those skills while still incarcerated, like cutting hair, communication skills, and building trades.

So this is 88,000 square feet?

- 8,000 square feet, home.

Yep.

- So they were really prepared for the real world.

The problem?

So many others are not prepared and far more likely to return to prison.

- We're becoming a society that has exiled people because of mistakes.

Every one of us has made a mistake that could have landed us in prison.

$99 check, anything over that is a felony in the state of Michigan.

Two drinks and get in the car, that's a felony in the state of Michigan.

So how easy, you know, every person that you talk to could have been in prison that easily.

- The reality is we grow and we evolve.

We grow out of, you know, negative mindsets.

Science tells us that.

Evolution of life tells us that.

No one is the same 20, 30 years later.

Give people a chance.

Give people an opportunity to prove that they are no longer the person that society judged them as decades ago.

- Are you in a state of gratitude now that this all actually unraveled as it did?

- Actually, I am.

I look at it this way, one door closed and another one opened.

The door that opened is where I'm actually supposed to be.

- [Mario] Aron Knall, he still keeps that letter that told him he was fired close by.

- I said, "It's their loss, not mine."

And I look at that letter from time to time to keep myself grounded and keep myself motivated to do what's right.