Yeah, he might want to try giving his employers a head's up about the 12 years of incarceration. Because that big of an omission is not likely to go over well with any employer!
I worked in collections and heard all sorts of sob stories but lol at that one. Uh yeah, that's probably going to come up and you can be in huge trouble for hiding it! My job even had me disclose my minor I got at 19 just in case. I didn't at first since it was closed and the fine was paid years ago, but the person that hired me didn't want anyone to think I was hiding it or something.