Richard Bronson, who once spent time behind bars for securities fraud, is now turning his experience into a tech startup aimed at supporting people re-entering society. His new venture, Commissary Club, offers a platform geared toward helping former inmates find employment, housing, benefits—and something often overlooked: a sense of community. The project draws directly from Bronson’s own struggles after prison, and he believes this overlooked group represents a huge, underserved market.
From Stratton Oakmont to Social Support
In the 1980s, Bronson worked at Stratton Oakmont, the brokerage infamous for its role in high-profile financial misconduct. After leaving, he built a business in South Florida focused on taking small-cap companies public. While successful, that business also involved violations of securities laws, which led to his conviction and time in federal prison. When he got out, Bronson found it almost impossible to reintegrate. Employers rejected him despite his education and experience; social services were sparse. It was during this period of “radioactive” isolation that the idea for Commissary Club took root.
Commissary Club: Tech Meets Rehabilitation
The name Commissary Club refers to the store inside America’s prisons where inmates can buy basic items—a fitting metaphor for Bronson’s mission. The platform offers tools to support people coming out of incarceration: job listings, housing resources, access to benefits, and even help with dating and forming connections. The goal is not only practical—helping with applications, resumes, benefits—but also emotional, by building peer spaces that address the loneliness many feel after leaving prison.
Bronson builds the project with Roman Kissin, whose credentials include tech leadership roles at eBay, IBM, and LexisNexis. While the platform’s basic version is free, there’s a pricing model for sustained help: the first ten job applications are free, followed by a paid bundle—ten further applications cost $149, or access for $14.99 each. Bronson defends this setup as a sustainable business model that doesn’t obscure its mission.
Commissary Club was recently selected for Startup Battlefield 200, placing it among emerging ventures TechCrunch singled out this year. For Bronson, this recognition underscores both the innovation and urgency of the problem he’s tackling.
Why It Matters—and What Comes Next
More than 600,000 people are released from federal or state prison each year in the U.S., facing steep odds in finding housing and work, securing benefits, or simply being welcomed back into community life. Existing nonprofit and government efforts often struggle with scale or stigma. Commissary Club aims to fill those gaps with tech tools informed by lived experience.
The real test will be whether the platform balances financial sustainability with meaningful impact. Can a paid model serve one of the most resource-constrained populations? How will it handle trust, privacy, and credibility? And critically: will its community components transcend transactional interactions to become a source of genuine support? Bronson’s story shows that experience—in this case, with the justice system—can shape a startup in unique ways. Commissary Club is one to watch for its potential not just to disrupt an industry, but to shift how society supports people rebuilding after incarceration.
