If you read the article, you'll notice what a joke the corporate world is. They are hiring someone sitting in prison, they did the interview through video in prison. His address is a prison, but....

"He figured Thorpe might have trouble clearing the company's background check and he says he prepared himself for that. But since it only searches back seven years and since Thorpe has been in prison for more than a decade, "He is actually our cleanest background check," Costa says."

"He doesn't have a parking ticket." What does a parking ticket, let alone a criminal conviction have to do with programming?

Let's just go ahead and get to the exploitation, the corporate scum offered him minimum wage and are taking advantage of his situation.