Jessie Thomas is working to become a substance abuse counselor so she can help others who are where she once was. She has completed 74 hours of classes to obtain her peer support certification.
Recently, she hit a barrier in her quest for a new career: Thomas is a convicted felon. She was released from prison in November after serving almost six years. But even though she’s done her time, she still has to jump through a multitude of hoops to achieve her career goal — if it’s possible at all.
Thousands of dollars in court fines and fees hang over her head. She also has thousands of dollars worth of “ drug taxes” to pay: taxes levied on the value of illegal drugs a person possessed when they were arrested. To add to her burden, that balance accrued interest while she was still incarcerated, and it is still climbing…
