Every year, thousands of men and women leave Texas prisons. But too often the ex-convicts find themselves stained by their past actions. Society, they quickly learn, has no use for them.

Kevin Lofton, a former criminal justice major at Sam Houston State University and today a parole officer for the state, wants to change all that.

Lofton has written an insightful new book, titled "X'ed Out," which refers to society's tendency to ostracize those who commit serious crimes.

The book exposes the adversities that probationers and parolees face after being released from prison. Lofton writes that ex-convicts routinely are denied credit because of criminal background checks performed on their applications.

This means they usually are prevented from borrowing money to buy a house or to start a business or get a job.

The system, Lofton writes, is like "pumping water on drowning people." That, he said, needs to change.

Society should aid those who have served their time, said Lofton. A good starting point, he said, would be for well-known ex-convicts to talk about their time in jail. However, many fear they will be ridiculed, so they remain silent.

"Some famous former prisoners should use their exposure in the media to support X'ed Out people who are trying to do positive things with their lives, but are rejected because of their past." Lofton wrote.

Lofton believes that a criminal is a person who has broken a law and is not a bad person. The action not the person is the focus.

He wants the media, employers, and law enforcement authorities to try to help former prisoners.

"Someone reading this could call the parole office and say, 'Is there someone down there to hire.'" Lofton said in an interview on Monday.

Positive media coverage of parolees could persuade more employers to give them a chance, he writes. This, in turn, could create more opportunities in the future.

As for those who have served time in prison, Lofton said they have a responsibility to try make a new life.

"Try to make the most out of every situation and move on," he writes." Worrying and being sad will not change the problem."

Lofton is convinced his prescription to help former prisoners will work.

"What I am writing is real," he said. "People can change and they do change."

He said he wrote the book to help children who have been suspended from school or have been in other trouble. It is meant to show them that they can turn their lives around.

"This is to tell them, 'You're young but still have a chance,'" Lofton said.