"There are more than 6 million ex-prisoners in the United States, according to a recent study, with 600,000 added to the total every year. Research suggests the best way to keep them from landing behind bars again is to reinvest in them, which includes finding them employment, but most business owners are reluctant to give them a shot. Read more at Business News Daily online. |
wbur.org Boston "We have a capacity of 340 and we all live together," [Superintendent Joe] Furnari said. "And we treat [each other] with respect as if you're living here. I tell the guys: it's like living at your grandmother's house. You wipe your feet, take your hat off and watch your mouth. All kidding aside." The Essex County Correctional Alternative Center in Lawrence has no jail bars, no uniforms, no guards and no fence. Designed to look and feel like life on the outside, The Farm embodies the philosophy that the way to turn inmates around is to push them into treatment, training and supervised early re-entry on the other side of the wall. Assistant Superintendent Jim Petrosino helped design the re-entry program. "If you get these guys a job, housing and have them go to meetings,those are the three important things to keep these guys from coming back," read the rest here Comments? |
Incentives for employers to take a chance on hiring. thestarpress.com MUNCIE -- The U.S. Department of Justice is sending two consultants to Muncie to help the community with its prisoner re-entry program. . . "The overall goal is trying to connect ex-offenders with employers," said Greg Maynard, coordinator of the city's Weed and Seed program. "There are advantages to hiring ex-offenders -- tax and legal advantages and incentives." read the entire article here. |
| "... During the prisoner's absence, roles have shifted, children have grown, and emotional and financial hardships have been endured. Even when daddy (or mommy) comes home, the prisoner and his family can never go back to the status quo that existed before prison, no matter how much they would like to. They must negotiate a new family dynamic that takes these changes into account..." read the entire article at http://www.prisonfellowship.org/inside-out/io-issue/november-2010/entry/20/15221 |
ludingtondailynews.com "The MPRI helped [Paul] get documents, including his Social Security card, birth certificate and state identification card, and provided him with bus tokens, clothes and his first month's rent. But it was a group of local men who came alongside Paul who have really made the difference this time, he said." read the entire article at Ludington Daily News |
Tulsa, Oklahoma "Although they may be hard to find, job opportunities for felons do exist. Various nonprofits and faith-based groups offer job training and search tools for people coming out of prison. Goodwill Industries of Tulsa is a vendor of the Prisoner Reentry Initiative, a U.S. Department of Labor grant administered by the Community Service Council. The initiative is to cut down on people re-offending by helping them find and maintain jobs. It also provides incentives to employers who hire participants in the program. Goodwill Industries case manager Joshua Firor said the manufacturing and food service industries are most likely to give jobs to people with felony convictions. ... 'It's much harder to place someone with a record,' Firor said. 'I can have someone who is completely qualified for a job and can perform in that job at or better than another person, but they won't get it solely because of the felony.' " Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20110306_11_A1_CUTLIN458327&rss_lnk=1 |
TJC Implementation Toolkit "The National Institute of Corrections and the Urban Institute announce the release of the Transition from Jail to Community (TJC) Implementation Toolkit. This web-based learning resource is designed to guide jurisdictions through implementation of the TJC model, in whole or in part. The Toolkit serves as a hands-on resource for users interested in jail reentry, whether in a criminal justice or community-based organization. Users can navigate the nine modules at their own pace. Toolkit modules incorporate examples from jurisdictions across the country, tools developed to facilitate implementation in the six current TJC learning sites, resource suggestions, and detailed content." The Toolkit can be accessed at www.jailtransition.com/Toolkit. More information at Urban Institute |
"Nearly everyone in prison and jail will someday return to the community, and it is critical that we recognize and prepare for this reality," said BJA Acting Director James H. Burch, II. "The justice professionals invited to this conference are on the cutting edge of our justice system's most significant challenge—to increase public safety, strengthen communities, and reduce costs by ensuring that those released from secure confinement do not reoffend and have every opportunity to succeed in the community."
"...Research has shown that if we can connect [just-released people] with resources within the first few weeks, recidivism is less," said [Amy] Meek ...So the resources are traveling en masse, to the released prisoners and their neighborhoods in the form of resource fairs. As a companion effort to localize services for re-entering prisoners, parole officers are being placed in the substations. That means parolees don't have to travel across town to meet their officers at the main office on Fitch Street...." read the entire article here, at the New Haven Independent |
"...Nationally, state policymakers have endorsed prisoner reentry and employment as a strategy to reduce a $69-billion annual prison bill. And it can work: with an investment of $56 million in programs, Michigan realized $200 million in prison savings. But here's the rub: states lack the money it takes to save money. Deficit-ridden states such as Kansas have cut the very programs which had successfully reduced prison populations. Federal stimulus funds for transitional work programs and incentives for employers to hire former prisoners are drying up. And some observers are predicting that federal funding for reentry programs will be halved in the coming year..." read the rest of the article here [Malcolm Young directs the Program for Prison Reentry Strategies at the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University School of Law] |
"...Let's assume, for example, that an individual, recently released from prison on parole, is entered into a residential "halfway back" program, and has an appointment with Opportunity Reconnect. There he meets with Legal Services, to address outstanding fines and surcharges which caused the suspension of his driver's license; and to seek modification of his child support payments and deal with arrears which accumulated while he was incarcerated. He meets with a representative of America Works to identify and develop employment opportunities. Next week, he will apply to take his GED examination at the college. ... These are precisely the supports Opportunity Newark provides. This model of "bundled" prisoner re-entry services is efficient, creates a positive "community" of support, and with hope, may find success in other urban centers throughout the state." read the entire article at: blog.nj.com |
Our monthly meeting with recently paroled men and women is manditory, so it is reasonably well attended. Of course one or two POs give a pep talk. The agency people also give brief notes about what their groups offer. But the guests really sit up and take notice when hearing from some of our speakers who have themselves been former guests of the system. These talks begin with a laundry list of facilities and experiences with the revolving door. The language can be rugged, and their outline is very rough, but the audience hangs on every word. Whenever the speaker mentions years of sobriety or years of freedom, the applause is spontaneous. Clearly there is a desire to get it right, to get straight, to stay out. These speakers are always mobbed at the end of the morning. Connections are made. Hope takes a chance and grabs on. The speakers themselves would be there every time if they could. They are committed to the cause like no one else. The challenge we face is that each of these speakers is a volunteer, and a morning a month is a lot for most employers to give time away. If they can make it regularly, it means they are without a regular job, and so still on the edge of disaster. Ideally you can collect enough success stories to have a rotation of speakers. Five words from a person they know and trust is worth more than a month of Sunday sermons. In the end the results are all about who talked. |
