By Joseph Robinson

Not since the late 1980’s has this nation seen such record numbers of joblessness. The official unemployment rate hovers above 10 percent, and hundreds of thousands of men and women are being added each month to the millions already mired on the national heap of economic distress and uncertainty.

Some reports put the unemployment rate among the formerly incarcerated anywhere from 60 to 75 percent.

At the bottom of the heap are America’s formerly incarcerated, roughly 700,000 of whom return to society each year. Stigmatized by criminal convictions and a lack of college degrees, real-life job experience and marketable skills, many of them are doomed to stay at the bottom—or return to prison.

Of course, some of the formerly incarcerated do manage to secure a job paying a living wage. But more often than not, the odds stack up against them. Some reports put the unemployment rate among the formerly incarcerated anywhere from 60 to 75 percent. In his book, But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry, Jeremy Travis, a national leader on reentry issues, quotes surveys showing that fewer than 40 percent of all employers said they would “definitely” or “probably” hire an applicant with a criminal record for an unskilled job.

That percentage is probably even lower these days, since the high unemployment figures allow employers to be more selective than they’ve been in decades. And since 9/11, employers are increasingly doing background checks on job applicants, which can unearth even minor brushes with the law. Yet another roadblock is reflected in the outdated and counterproductive legal barriers and restrictions imposed by states that make it difficult or impossible for the formerly incarcerated to be hired in numerous occupations.

A decent job is a critical building block for a successful life. If it cannot be attained, how can there be hope of attaining others, like adequate housing and financial stability? At the time of their incarceration, many people with prison in their past were the family breadwinners. Their return home usually spikes expectations that the family’s financial struggles will be over. Instead, the struggles often worsen. But even so, those returning to a home and family are the lucky ones. Far too many leave prison only to find themselves in overcrowded city shelters.

Add to this bleak picture the intractable issue of race. While employers tend to offer a simple, straightforward calculation when considering whom to hire—if you have one applicant with a criminal record and the other who has never been arrested, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which is the best employment risk, this explanation goes—race seems to complicate their thinking. Men and women leaving prison are disproportionately black and Latino. They are returning to the job market in a nation where, according to a Princeton University study, it is easier for a white person with a felony conviction to get a job than for a black person who has never been arrested.

All of these barriers and disparities conspire to create devastating—yet predictable—consequences. About two out of three people released from prison will return, for either a new crime or technical parole violation, within three years of release.

So, what can be done? For starters, the formerly incarcerated can tap into their own personal power, the gifts they bring to the table. They can take steps to creatively—and legally—expand their options so that they can give themselves a realistic second chance. One realistic but largely unexplored option for these men and women is entrepreneurship. While it may seem counterintuitive to encourage formerly incarcerated individuals to start their own businesses, it’s often the best avenue for many of them.

It is no secret that large numbers of this population have innate entrepreneurial skills; the problem is that they’ve honed them on the wrong side of the law, like in the illegal drug business. But they can learn how to transfer the business skills they used in the streets to legitimate possibilities. In the process, they can raise their standard of living, create jobs not only for themselves but for their communities and build financial assets and self-esteem.

Where to begin? A wealth of step-by-step books and other information on starting a business is available at the local public library and on the Internet. And free guidance and support is waiting at the U.S. Small Business Administration and its Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), and the Service Corps of Retired Executives Association (SCORE). There’s also the U. S Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency, a federal agency created to foster the establishment and growth of minority-owned businesses.

Throughout the country, there are also organizations that provide micro loans and business training in order to help people work their way up the socioeconomic ladder. In New York City, for example, one such agency is Project Enterprise, whose mission is to support and develop entrepreneurs and small businesses in under-served communities. It provides access to business loans, business development services and networking opportunities.

The formerly incarcerated who want to start businesses should also seek out as mentors others in this population who already have. To find them, one starting point is the 2007 report, Venturing Beyond the Gates: Facilitating Successful Reentry with Entrepreneurship, by the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The report is available for free on the Internet. It provides much useful information, including a list of programs and initiatives that promote entrepreneurship among the formerly incarcerated. Those programs could be helpful in locating good mentors.

Starting out, one low-cost, easy-to-start business opportunity can be found in network marketing. For anywhere from $50 to $500, a formerly incarcerated person can go into business by joining a network marketing company (think Amway, Avon Products or Mary Kay). As your own business person, you will become part of a system or network, much like a franchisee of, say, McDonalds. But you can start for a whole lot less, and become an individual franchise.

A network marketing business has an open-door policy. A criminal history is a nonissue. A person with a passion for selling can do very well as a network marketer. It essentially involves selling products or services to people in your network, starting with your family and friends. But not just any product or service. The products should be things that people want, need and can actually benefit from. The most common product line offered by network marketers is wellness products related to areas like nutrition and dieting. Surely, everyone knows people who want to improve their health or who want to lose weight.

But whether it’s network marketing or another opportunity, entrepreneurship can help the formerly incarcerated turn the page to a new chapter of life, one with success written all over it. Entrepreneurship can allow them to use their own gifts to build the lives they want and break the brutal cycle of recidivism. And it can allow them to demonstrate, once and for all, that they are not their past; they are not their mistakes.

Joseph Robinson is the author of Think Outside the Cell: An Entrepreneur’s Guide for the Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated. He has been teaching personal finance and entrepreneurship to incarcerated men since 1995.