Getting a Job After Prison in Minnesota

There is one question that determines whether you get hired. Not the application. Not the background check. Not what the charge was or how long you were inside.

The question is this: why you, over the thirty other people I could hire who don't have a criminal record?

If you walk in without a ready answer, you will not get the job. The interviewer can see the pause the moment you don't have something prepared, and once they see it, the room shifts against you. What you need is an answer practiced enough to say with confidence and humility at the same time.

The answer that works is this:

Everybody deserves a second chance. Somebody is going to give me one. And they are going to get the best employee they ever had, because I am never, ever going to do something that sends me back to prison.

Say it clean. Say it without flinching. It makes no excuses, asks for no sympathy, and tells the employer the one thing they actually need to know: you have more reason to perform than anyone else in that stack.

Then live it. The light is on you from the first day. Use it. Work twice as hard as the person next to you. Show up earlier, stay later, and make that scrutiny your shining light, not a shadow. The person standing next to you does not have anyone watching them that closely. You do. That is the advantage if you decide to use it.

What the Law in Minnesota Says About Your Record

Minnesota has had a statewide ban the box law for all employers - public and private - since January 1, 2014. Minnesota Statutes Section 364.021 prohibits any public or private employer from inquiring into, considering, or requiring disclosure of criminal history until the applicant has been selected for an interview. If there is no interview, the employer must wait until after a conditional offer of employment has been extended.

There is no size threshold. This applies to every employer in Minnesota. The moment you apply for a job in this state, you get to the interview on your qualifications alone.

Exceptions apply where another law requires the employer to conduct background checks or consider criminal history for that specific position. Certain occupations - teachers, school bus drivers, apartment managers, corrections employment - have statutory screening requirements. But for the vast majority of private sector employment, the timing protection is real and statewide.

Employers who violate the law can be fined up to $500 per month per violation after an initial notice period.

Minneapolis went further in 2025. The Minneapolis Fair Chance Ordinance imposes additional requirements on how employers within the city consider criminal history once it is lawfully collected - including substantive assessment requirements limiting how a conviction can be used to deny employment. If you are applying for work in Minneapolis, these protections layer on top of the state law.

Minnesota does not have an automatic expungement program like Michigan's Clean Slate Act. However, Minnesota allows petition-based expungement - a court order sealing criminal records from public access - for eligible offenses. The Minnesota Attorney General's Office has run a statewide Clean Slate Tour since 2024, hosting free expungement clinics across Minnesota to help residents seal old records. If your record qualifies, sealing it removes it from most background checks.

Building the Answer Before You Need It

Minnesota law gets you to the interview without your record in the room. Your answer is what happens after that.

Minnesota DOC's EMPLOY program, funded through MINNCOR Industries and rated Promising by the National Institute of Justice, links work inside to employment outcomes after release. EMPLOY participants have shown statistically significant lower rates of reconviction, rearrest, reincarceration, and revocations, and higher employment rates compared to non-participants. MINNCOR Industries provides work programs inside Minnesota correctional facilities.

Minnesota DOC's Work Release Program allows eligible incarcerated individuals to work at paid employment in the community up to twelve months before their supervised release date. Average daily participation is 172 people (FY2025). Work release participants are expected to obtain steady employment and use income to pay housing costs and restitution.

The Minnesota Rehabilitation and Reinvestment Act (MRRA), passed in 2023, is reshaping how Minnesota approaches incarceration and reentry. It requires individualized programming, validated risk assessments, new earned incentive release pathways, and more meaningful reintegration support. If you are in a Minnesota facility right now, the programming landscape is actively changing under this law.

Start with what you did inside. Any EMPLOY participation, vocational training, MINNCOR work, education, or programming is content that goes directly into your answer. Then connect it specifically to the job you are applying for.

Minnesota's economy runs on healthcare and medical devices, technology, financial services, food and agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics. Whatever you are applying for, make the answer specific to what that employer needs.

Practice it out loud. Until the hesitation is completely gone. The law gives you the first interview. Your answer is everything after that.

Companies in Minnesota That Hire People with Criminal Records

Minnesota's economy, anchored by the Twin Cities metro and a network of manufacturing, agricultural, and healthcare communities across the state, creates consistent labor demand in multiple sectors.

Target Corporation, headquartered in Minneapolis, has been a nationally recognized early adopter of fair chance hiring practices. Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, and major food service operators have Minnesota operations and national fair chance commitments. Healthcare systems including Mayo Clinic, M Health Fairview, and Allina Health hire in support and entry-level roles. Food manufacturing operations across the state, including Cargill, General Mills, and Hormel, have consistent demand. Manufacturing and distribution across the I-35 and I-94 corridors hire in production and logistics roles.

Ramsey County Workforce Services operates a Fair Opportunities program specifically connecting justice-impacted individuals to employer networks in the Twin Cities area.

EMERGE Minnesota's ProPEL program connects individuals soon to be released from Minnesota DOC facilities to employment preparation and community resources.

CareerForce centers, operated through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), have embedded reentry services and can connect returning citizens directly to employers.

Staffing agencies across Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Rochester, and the major Minnesota metro areas are the most accessible first step, placing workers in manufacturing, food processing, and logistics with more flexibility than direct hire.

For the full national list of companies with public fair chance commitments, see the InmateAid Fair Chance Employer Reference List.

The Tax Credit Employers Get for Hiring You

Here is the closing argument for every conversation with an employer on the fence.

There is a federal program called the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, or WOTC. When an employer hires someone from a qualifying group, including individuals recently released from prison, the employer may receive a significant federal tax credit per qualifying hire. That is not charity. It is a business incentive the federal government created specifically to make hiring returning citizens financially advantageous.

You are not asking anyone to take a risk on you. You are telling them your hire comes with a tax benefit attached that none of the other thirty applicants can offer. Say it at the end of the interview, after you have made your case: I qualify for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. Hiring me may put money back in your business. And I will give you the best work you have ever gotten from a new hire, because I have too much to lose to give you anything less.

Minnesota's CareerForce centers, operated through DEED, coordinate WOTC certification and Federal Bonding access for employers statewide.

Where to Get Help in Minnesota

CareerForce, Minnesota's workforce development center network operated through DEED, provides job search assistance, career counseling, training referrals, WOTC coordination, and Federal Bonding access statewide. CareerForce centers have reentry-specific services and can connect returning citizens to employer networks. Find your nearest center at mn.gov/deed.

Minnesota DOC Reentry Services Unit operates the EMPLOY program and coordinates reentry planning inside DOC facilities, including work release connections. Contact through mn.gov/doc.

DEED Dislocated Worker Pilot Re-Entry Program ($3 million for SFY 2023-2024) provides employment and training services for individuals 0-6 months pre/post release from Minnesota prisons. Contact through mn.gov/deed.

EMERGE Minnesota provides comprehensive reentry services in Minneapolis/St. Paul through three tracks: RESTORE (employment barriers for formerly incarcerated individuals), ProPEL (pre-release preparation for those soon to leave MN DOC facilities), and RTR (ReEntry Trauma Recovery Groups). Funded through multiple state agencies. Contact at emerge-mn.org.

Ramsey County Workforce Services operates the Fair Opportunities program connecting justice-impacted individuals to employer networks in the Twin Cities area.

Minnesota Attorney General Clean Slate Tour offers free expungement clinics across Minnesota, helping residents seal eligible criminal records. Check current clinic schedule at ag.state.mn.us/Clean-Slate.

Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services and Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis provide free legal assistance with expungement petitions for eligible records.

The Federal Bonding Program, coordinated through CareerForce centers, provides free fidelity bonding to employers who hire returning citizens.