I would love for there to be a way to help prisoners not commit future crimes but this seems like a huge stretch. First, most prisoners are not drug kingpins,

I would love for there to be a way to help prisoners not commit future crimes but this seems like a huge stretch. First, most prisoners are not drug kingpins, they are people that do drugs to the point of not being able to control their lives, or people who commit violent crimes for nonsensical reasons or people who steal large or small sums of money. Many are people you would literally be scared to see in public. Second, entrepreneurial prisoners like drug dealers are dealing drugs because they do not view risk the same way normal people do. They are in prison because they decided to take an illegal path toward making money knowing that it was easier than working. Third, VCs will have a tough time explaining to their LPs about how they finance criminals. Even worse would be a VC’s risk if they finance one and the business fails and they have to explain it to their LP. Forth, a really tough thing about starting a business is getting various people in the industry to work with you. Being a past prisoner is likely to be a burden in those relationships. Fifth, them getting state/national licenses that may be required to start various businesses will be very challenging. There are exceptions, like there are with every rule, but this is a tough sell. I could see a very small number of people being helped this way, but I genuinely feel like it would be tough. There are so many great people working toward businesses with no criminal background, it seems strange to try to put the effort in to people that have made no effort for themselves.