People with convictions and those who have spent time in jail find barriers to moving on with their lives \u2014 in both employment and further education.<\/p>\n
When Damien Quinn came out of prison he thought he was quits with society; he had done wrong and paid his debt.<\/p>\n
What he didn\u2019t realise then was that society wasn\u2019t done with him. His debt had not been paid.<\/p>\n
He would be expected to keep paying, long into the future, as if the idea of a second chance was one which society had yet to get its head around.<\/p>\n
\u201cI naively believed that my punishment was over but really it was only beginning,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Quinn was to discover that ex-prisoners are left with a stain which is difficult to remove.<\/p>\n
In a whole host of ways, they are faced with challenges that have nothing to do with how they had transgressed to a point where they were imprisoned.<\/p>\n
Large parts of society continue to regard ex-prisoners with suspicion, particularly but not exclusively in areas like employment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had been under the assumption that I would be able to move on and get on with my life,\u201d Quinn says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut certainly early on nobody was willing to give me a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n