Homeless and Hopeless

Today in Manhattan, while waiting for an uptown Madison Avenue bus to arrive, I was approached by a man who started describing his problems to me. He never introduced himself, just started talking, so I never even got his name. The man was clearly not crazy, like some of the people who may suddenly start talking to you in New York. In fact, he was quite specific about his problems and the difficulties he was having in resolving them.

The crux of his problem was that he was homeless, living in shelters, and had no hope of finding employment to get himself out of the mess he had fallen into. What made his task especially impossible to overcome, he explained, was that he had recently been released from prison. He didn't say what his offense was, and I didn't ask. At this point, like any seasoned New Yorker, I was looking to make sure he wasn't carrying a knife or other weapon to potentially attack me. As a lifelong New Yorker, such wariness is inbred in our DNA.

But he didn't appear armed or dangerous or at all crazy; in fact, he sounded quite sane and articulate, telling me he was 60 years old and seemed hopelessly trapped by his circumstances. He was carrying a number of documents with him, which showed his status, his dealings with Legal Aid and, most striking to me, his prison release papers which warned potential employers in bold letters at the bottom to consider this man's record carefully before hiring him. We agreed that in today's economy, that comment was the kiss of death, even with someone who might have been willing to take a chance on him.

He looked thin but healthy. I wanted to ask about his eating habits, but obviously this was not an appropriate time. There was little I could do but listen and express my sympathy. When my bus arrived, I wished him good luck and left.

All day now, I have been thinking about him. Sooner or later, he will literally be "forced" to commit a crime to stay afloat. Already, he showed me his toothpaste and toothbrush, which he admitted to stealing. This is why the recidivism rate is so high.

It's not society's fault he committed a crime resulting in incarceration, but think of this. It costs New York about $50,000 per year to maintain each prisoner in jail. It would be a lot cheaper and productive to employ these people in some way instead of locking them up and throwing the key away, which accomplishes nothing of value to him or society.