JLC Second Chance Trucking offers new opportunities for previously incarcerated

JLC Second Chance Trucking recently opened a Siloam Springs office. The nonprofit established the office to help those with criminal records to become truck drivers.

Jerry Cox of Siloam Springs is the founder and executive director. He said he understands the stigma of those with criminal records and that no one wants to give them a second chance. Cox struggled to find a job after he was sentenced to prison for a crime he didn’t commit in Texas. Cox said his case was eventually thrown out, but he’d served most of his sentence by then.

“When my son got incarcerated, it lit a fire under me because I knew if I did not have something in place for him whenever he gets out, he would end up being another part of the 67.3% of people who end up back incarcerated,” Cox said. “I refuse to let that happen to my son.”

Cox looks to partner with area organizations to help previously incarcerated people, place them in commercial driver’s license schools, and find trucking jobs.

“I have a lot of grant money available to send them to the schools so they can learn how to drive a truck and teach them how to be self-sufficient,” he said. “It’s to help them reintegrate into society and become productive citizens who contribute to society instead of taking away from it.”

Over the next five years, he hopes to have between 75 and 100 trucks and partner with multiple organizations to provide a second chance for the formerly incarcerated.

Cox, who served in the U.S. Army for six years, said his nonprofit also helps homeless veterans.

JLC Second Chance Trucking has three employees, including co-founder and CEO Jake Stearns. He and Cox met about 15 years ago as truck drivers wanting to change lives for the better. Stearns has worked in the trucking industry for more than 30 years, and Cox started in it over 40 years ago.