Former prisoner pressures USG to get rid of criminal record application question

Patrick Rodriguez, co-executive director of the Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in Prison, spent five years behind bars. Now, he’s pushing the University System of Georgia to remove an application question about any past or pending convictions.

Five years behind bars in the Georgia Department of Corrections gave Patrick Rodriguez time to think about how he would ever go back to school.

“When I was incarcerated, I just kept thinking about education,” Rodriguez said.

“I just kept thinking about what is it that I’m going to do to be able to make it in todays society, as somebody who now has a criminal record.”