--- title: Obama to Announce Steps to Ease Pathway From Prison to Work description: President Obama's initiative is part of a broader criminal justice reform campaign canonical: https://time.com/4096332/obama-to-announce-steps-to-ease-pathway-from-prison-to-jobs-and-regular-life/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-02T13:56:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:15:51.155Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama to Announce Steps to Ease Pathway From Prison to Work og:description: President Obama's initiative is part of a broader criminal justice reform campaign og:url: https://time.com/4096332/obama-to-announce-steps-to-ease-pathway-from-prison-to-jobs-and-regular-life/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0c34394c6274c11/69886f1c0a4a223abb9c6d59/obama-integrity-house-prisoners-housing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Martine Kieffer, LaShawn Overton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama to Announce Steps to Ease Pathway From Prison to Work twitter:description: President Obama's initiative is part of a broader criminal justice reform campaign twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0c34394c6274c11/69886f1c0a4a223abb9c6d59/obama-integrity-house-prisoners-housing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama to Announce Steps to Ease Pathway From Prison to Jobs and Regular Life by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 2, 2015 1:56 PM UTC  A counselor talks with an inmate at Integrity House, a residential drug-treatment center for women incarcerated at the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearney, N.J., in August 2011\. President Barack Obama plans to visit the residential drug-treatment center, highlighting efforts to assist offenders in their re-entry to society after leaving prison. A counselor talks with an inmate at Integrity House, a residential drug-treatment center for women incarcerated at the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearney, N.J., in August 2011\. President Barack Obama plans to visit the residential drug-treatment center, highlighting efforts to assist offenders in their re-entry to society after leaving prison.Mel Evans—AP by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 2, 2015 1:56 PM UTC President Barack Obama will announce initiatives on Monday to ease the pathway from prison to regular life for former inmates as part of his broader drive to overhaul the criminal justice system. Limited by his office, Obama’s proposals are narrow in scope: they include directing the federal Office of Personnel Management to delay inquiries into criminal history until later in the hiring process, and announcing grants to provide job training for those with criminal records. “We can help those who have served their time and earned a second chance get the support they need to become productive members of society,” Mr. Obama said in [his weekly radio and online address](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/10/31/weekly-address-its-time-reform-our-criminal-justice-system) on Saturday. Obama will visit a residential drug-treatment center in Newark on Monday and then convene a round-table discussion with Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, [the New York Times reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/us/obama-prisoners-jobs-housing.html?%5Fr=0). **Read more:** [Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Want Federal Job Applicants to Be Asked About Criminal History](http://time.com/4094715/hillary-clinton-criminal-history-reform/) Former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced a similar proposal on Friday for limiting inquiries into criminal history until applicants have a chance to prove themselves. \[[The New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/us/obama-prisoners-jobs-housing.html?%5Fr=0)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4096332/obama-to-announce-steps-to-ease-pathway-from-prison-to-jobs-and-regular-life/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4096332/obama-to-announce-steps-to-ease-pathway-from-prison-to-jobs-and-regular-life/"},"headline":"Obama to Announce Steps to Ease Pathway From Prison to Jobs and Regular Life","datePublished":"2015-11-02T13:56:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:15:51.155Z","description":"President Obama's initiative is part of a broader criminal justice reform campaign","url":"https://time.com/4096332/obama-to-announce-steps-to-ease-pathway-from-prison-to-jobs-and-regular-life/","keywords":["Criminal Justice","President Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0c34394c6274c11/69886f1c0a4a223abb9c6d59/obama-integrity-house-prisoners-housing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0c34394c6274c11/69886f1c0a4a223abb9c6d59/obama-integrity-house-prisoners-housing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Martine Kieffer, LaShawn Overton","caption":"Martine Kieffer, LaShawn Overton","creditText":"Mel Evans—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4096332/obama-to-announce-steps-to-ease-pathway-from-prison-to-jobs-and-regular-life/","name":"Obama to Announce Steps to Ease Pathway From Prison to Jobs and Regular Life"}}]}] ```