((PKG))  FULL CIRCLE  
((Banner:  Access – The Job Market)) 
((Reporter/Camera:  June Soh))
((Map:  Halethorpe, Maryland)) 
 
((NATS)) 
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic)) 
I’ve never had a real job.  This is my first meaningful 
job.  So it means so much to me.  I am a certified 
automotive technician. 
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic)) 
I’ve got a promising future like now that I’ve got a 
career, I got financially stable and I am going to 
continue to excel in this field of automotive.  I have 
been incarcerated since I was 15.  I served 21 years.  I 
was caught up in a drug trade.  My offences were first-
degree murder and first-degree assault.  I was 37 when 
I got released.  
((NATS)) 
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic)) 
The day I was released from prison this February, I felt 
anxious, I felt nervous, I felt happy and also I felt sad 
too.  I learned that my father had passed away the night 
before.  So, I had a whole bunch of feelings wrapped up 
in one.  But the main thing that I held onto is that I got, I 
got to be, I got to be success.  I got to, I got to do what 
was right.  I got to, I got to not lose focus on my present 
moment.  That motivated me to come out here and 
work hard and show people that we do have second 
chances. 
((NATS)) 
((Martin Schwartz, Founder, Full Circle Auto Repair 
and Training Center)) 
I founded the Full Circle Auto Repair and Training 
Center in 2015 in Halethorpe, Maryland just outside of 
Baltimore city.  This program takes individuals who 
were previously incarcerated and we train them to be 
auto-mechanics and then find them jobs in the 
community and dealerships and local garages and help 
them build careers.  
((NATS)) 
((William Dempsey, Trainee, Full Circle Auto Repair 
and Training Center)) 
Another great thing about this program is that along 
with schooling and getting our certifications, they pay 
us.  They pay us to learn because they know that we're 
coming home and it's hard, you know.  We're here 8 
hours, so we get paid 8 hours for being here.  They 
prepare us for workforce some day we are going into.  
So, I am definitely appreciative of that. 
((Stills Courtesy: AP)) 
((Martin Schwartz, Founder, Full Circle Auto Repair 
and Training Center)) 
We have over two million people currently incarcerated 
in this country and more than six hundred thousand are 
released from prison every year.  Close to 75 percent of 
individuals who are released from prison wind up going 
back within five to eight years.
((Stills Courtesy: AP)) 
The biggest reason for individuals going back to prison, 
there is actually several of them.  For one thing, when 
they get out of prison, they get sent back to the 
neighborhood for the most part where they committed a 
crime.  They don't have a job.  They have to make a 
living somehow and they have very few skills.  And in 
our country, there's, it's real difficult to get a job if you 
have a criminal background.  So, we really set people 
up for going back to prison.   
((NATS)) 
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic)) 
Full Circle is part of Vehicles for Change program 
where we receive donated vehicles.  Fixing these cars, 
I become real passionate because I know these cars 
given to low-income families.  That makes me happy or 
that makes me proud knowing that I am helping a family 
so they can get to their destinations in a safely manner 
with these vehicles. 
((NATS)) 
((Martin Schwartz, Founder, Full Circle Auto Repair 
and Training Center)) 
Since 2015 when we started the program, we've had a 
120 interns come through our training program.  We've 
had a 100 percent placement rate.  So every single 
person who's graduated from this program has gotten a 
full-time job, where they can afford to take care of their 
families.  They can buy a house.  They can be active 
citizens in the community. 
((NATS)) 
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic)) 
I am married to my childhood sweetheart.  I met her 
when I was 12, she was 11.  We’ve known each other 
for over 24 years.   She has been a strong support in 
my success.  Coming from where I come from, being 
incarcerated for over 21 years and coming home to a 
career, helping needy families, yes, I believe I am a 
success. 
((NATS))