Haley pushes for hiring nonviolent S.C. prisoners upon release

Gov. Nikki Haley urged businesses Monday to hire nonviolent prisoners near release, a step she said would give them a good start toward a second chance.

“My goal is not to just give them that bus ticket and go out there and try and find the job,” she said. “I want us to find them a job before they leave the fence. I believe in these inmates that we're talking about.”

The heads of several state agencies joined Haley to pitch the effort to expand an effort under way since 2014.

She is hoping to take the program a step further by having prisoners get hired before they are released so that they have a place to go immediately.

The program teams up state corrections, employment and probation officials to prepare non-violent prisoners with a clean disciplinary record for work.

This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Haley pushes for hiring nonviolent S.C. prisoners upon release."