Because the criminal mind, as I had learned in psych., has a very inflated sense of entitlement and views opportunities as how to take advantage of others. Now

Because the criminal mind, as I had learned in psych., has a very inflated sense of entitlement and views opportunities as how to take advantage of others. Now you might rightly reply, "America has a mass over-incarceration problem. Not everyone in prison has those psychopathic tendencies". Even if we grant that for the sake of argument, and assumed that people in the general population of never-incarcerated fail to fully appreciate their freedom and lack of a record, I would still expect the significant number of ex-felons in the former group to bring down that population's aggregate measure in "employer's best hires" well below that of the general population. I'd also ask about the traumatic effects being in a prison itself might have on the psychological well-being so-called targets of an unjust incarceration system who don't belong there. Again, I'm sure there's a profile of the reformed convict who's learned to value every breath of life of freedom with appreciation and gratitude. I'm just not convinced this is the norm to the extent that they'd typically outstrip employees who did not go through the system. That's why it's counterintuitive to me. Now I'm ready to say I've been all wrong about this. But I want to see data.