Understanding the Employment Needs of Ex-Offenders

1
Understanding the Employment Needs of Ex-Offenders

• Roshanna Singley Parker
• NC Department of Correction
• 2010 Drug Treatment Court Conference

2
National Perspective

• 2 million offenders are incarcerated in the U.S.
• One out of every 112 men and one in every 1,724
  women are under state or federal supervision
• 97 of offenders will leave prison and return to
  the community

3
Magnitude of the Problem

• Approximately 30 of the nations adult
  population has a criminal record
• -U.S. Dept. of Justice BJS
• Nearly 65 Million People in the U.S. have a
  Criminal Record
• This is a population that we can no longer ignore

4
Current NCDOC Population

• Prison Population (8/30/10)
• 40,308
• 37,347 Males
• 2,961 Females
• Probation population (08/30/2010)
• 108,669
• Prison Exits 4/1/2009-3/31/2010
• 29,087
• 
  

5
Impact of Criminal History

• One consequence of the tremendous growth in the
  number of persons under supervision of the
  criminal justice system, whether incarcerated, on
  parole, or on probation, is the effect of this
  criminal history on finding and keeping a job.

6
Employment

• Employment fills a vital need for most
  individuals it provides income, social
  connection, and feelings of societal contribution
  and self worth.
• These facts are no less true for Ex-Offenders

7
Importance of Employment

• Stable employment is one of the best predictors
  of post-release success
• With 700,000 people released from prison each
  year, there is a critical social and economic
  need to create policies that help newly released
  prisoners transition into their communities and
  maintain stable employment.

8
Factors Associated with Re-Arrest

• Experience, as well as assessment tools, help us
  to understand that certain situations or factors
  contribute to the likelihood of success or
  failure
• Stable housing
• The nature of the persons social network and
  associations
• The offenders attitude and decision making
  processes
• Substance abuse/use
• Being productively employed

9
Employment Reintegration

• According to a recent study conducted by the US
  Department of Labor, most federal criminal
  justice experts believe that employment is the
  key to successfully reintegrating ex-offenders
  back into society.

10
Barriers to Employment

• Criminal record
• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Employer biases
• Job seeker's attitude
• Mental health issues
• No work history or gaps in employment
• Unreliable transportation
• Not enough education or training (job skills)

11
Employment barriers are generally created by the
following

• Stigma and Fear
• Questions about criminal history during the
  application and/or interview process
• Licensure standards created by boards and
  commissions
• Lack of knowledge about incentive programs such
  as Work Opportunity Tax Credit, Federal Bonding
  Program, and OJT

12
Employment and Recidivism

• Those who are unable to get a job are three times
  more likely to return to prison than those who
  find steady employment. ABA Commission on
  Effective Criminal Sanctions, Second Chances in
  the Criminal Justice System Alternatives to
  Incarceration and Reentry Strategies at 27.
  (2007)
• Research suggests increased employment and job
  retention rates result in lower recidivism
• A great benefit is to identify the industries
  where ex-offenders are more likely to gain and
  subsequently maintain employment

13
Offender Friendly Industries

• Manufacturing
• Construction
• Food Services
• Hospitality
• Administrative and Support Services
• Landscaping
• Maintenance

14
Types of Job Skill Training Programs

• Auto-Detailing
• Landscaping
• Solar Panel Installation
• HVAC/Plumbing
• Hospitality
• Office Technology
• Printing/Duplicating/Digital Copying
• Commercial Truck Driving

15
Examples of Employment for Offenders

• Prep/Line Cook
• Screw Machine Operator
• Barber/Cosmetologist
• Customer Service Representative
• Cable Technician
• Home Audio and Entertainment Technician
• Entrepreneur

16
Addressing Employment Barriers

• Expand outreach and education in the employment
  sector as many are reluctant to hire felons
• Educate employers on the value of using job
  developers
• Endorse employer incentive programs that hire
  ex-offenders
• Create additional training and apprenticeship
  programs that could provide opportunities for
  ex-offenders to learn trade skills and workplace
  expectations

17
Innovative Approaches

• Some States, such as New York, offer
  ex-offenders explicit statutory protection
  against employment discrimination. New York's
  statute (Article 23A of the Correction Law) makes
  it illegal to deny an ex-offender employment
  because of his criminal history unless the
  offender's convictions are directly related to
  the job he seeks or his employment would create
  an unreasonable risk to the safety of people or
  property.

18
Employment Program Models

• Four programs across the country that prepare
  inmates and parolees for employment are
• Safer Foundation in Chicago,
• Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) in New
  York City,
• Project RIO (Reintegration of Offenders) in
  Texas, and
• Corrections Clearinghouse (CCH) in Washington
  State

19
Program Components

• Basic services include
• Education and vocational training
• life skills training,
• job preparation skills,
• job placement,
• social support,
• and follow-up assistance.

20
Educational and Vocational Training

• Research indicates that offenders who
  participate in education and/or vocational
  training programs are more marketable for
  employment, infraction rates are reduced, and the
  reduction of recidivism among these offenders is
  approximately 22.

21
Current NCDOC Initiatives

• Work Release
• Prisoner Re-entry Initiative (PRI)
• Grantors US Dept. of Justice US Dept. of Labor
• Certified Communications Program
• Grantor Governors Crime Commission
• Offender Employment and Training Initiative
• Grantor NC Dept. of Commerce
• Reentry Job Placement Correction Enterprises
• Grantor Governors Crime Commission

22
Work Release Program

• 35 Minimum custody facilities and 3 private
  facilities offer work release.
• 1337 slots allocated for work release
• 726 inmates assigned as of July 26, 2010.

23
Prisoner Re-entry Initiative (PRI)

• Federal Grant
• US Dept. of Justice US Dept. of Labor
• Purpose to reduce recidivism (prison)
• 20 states have participated
• NC grant period July 1, 2007 June 30, 2011
• 2 Counties Mecklenburg, Nash/ Edgecombe
• Target serve 250 individuals in Mecklenburg Co.
• Local Partners
• NC Dept. of Correction
• The Center for Community Transitions
• NC Employment Security Commission
• Employers, Trade Schools Community Agencies

24
Prisoner Reentry Initiative

• Funded through the US Dept of Justice and US Dept
  of Labor
• Partnership with the Center for Community
  Transition
• Designed to provide pre and post employment
  assistance to released offenders in Mecklenburg
  County
• Job Developer housed at ESC
• Grant ends June 2011

25
Certified Communication

• Prepares offenders for jobs by employing a
  unique entry-level, hands-on, gender-neutral
  approach to Basic Telecommunications, Network
  Cabling in Copper and Fiber Optic-Based Systems,
  Voice and Messaging Systems, and Home
  Entertainment Systems. The training will provide
  at least four industry-recognized certifications
  that will increase the marketability of the
  offenders upon release.

26
Certified Communication

• Funded by the Governors Crime Commission
• Collaboration between the North Carolina
  Department of Correction and the North Carolina
  Community College System.
• Participating Prisons Wake Correctional Center,
  Fountain Correctional Center for Women, New
  Hanover Correctional Center
• Participating Community Colleges Wake Technical
  Community College, Edgecombe Community College,
  Cape Fear Community College
• Program is being incorporated into offerings
  through DOP Educational Services

27
Offender Employment Training Initiative (OETI)

• This project is designed to support offender
  employment through job preparation assistance and
  education and training opportunities.
• Offender job developer positions in the
  ESC/JobLink Centers (One-Stop Centers) in ten NC
  counties Wake, Durham, Guilford, Forsyth,
  Buncombe, Cumberland, Rowan, Pitt, Gaston, and
  Alamance, and one Job Placement Coordinator
  position in Mecklenburg County.
• The Offender Job Developers will cultivate and
  educate a pool of potential employers, provide
  employability training, job seeking resources,
  and job coaching assistance to released
  offenders.

28
Offender Employment Training Initiative (OETI)

• Funded by the NC Department of Commerce
• Partnership with local workforce development
  boards, ESC, JobLink
• Host employment forums in all11 counties
• Job Developer cultivates relationships with local
  employers to increase employment opportunities
• Job Developers contact information provided

29
CE Reentry Job Placement

• Job Placement Coordinator Bonnie Boyette
• Identify employment opportunities that match all
  of the Correction Enterprise industries
• Meet with potential employers to discuss the
  skilled inmates exiting from CE and the Inmate
  Construction Program
• Develop a marketing tool for employers

30
Correction Enterprises

• Provides inmates with opportunities to learn job
  skills by producing goods and services for the
  NCDOC and other tax-supported entities
• No money is provided to Correction Enterprises by
  the General Assembly
• Correction Enterprises consists of 30 separate
  revenue producing operations across the state
  with 380 staff and 2100 inmate workers

31
Correction Enterprises Plants

• License Tag Plant
• Paint Plant
• Print Plant
• Sign Plant
• Quick Copy Plant
• Woodworking Plant
• Sewing Plant
• Scotland, Columbus, Pender, Marion, Pasquotank

• Janitorial Products
• Harnett, Warren
• Metal Products
• Upholstery
• Reupholstery
• Optical Plant
• Laundry Plant
• Central, Craggy
• Meat Processing
• Cannery

32
Education and Vocational Training Barriers

• Linking institutional education and
  community-based education programs
• Availability to provide previous assessment
  results and offenders participation efforts in
  educational programs while incarcerated to
  community-based education programs
• Resources continue to dimish as the offender
  population increases, thus limiting access to
  needed educational programs
• Drug offenses that limits access to educational
  opportunities (Pell Grant,etc.)

33
Addressing Education and Vocational Training
Barriers

• Advance legislative reform that would repeal or
  clarify the federal financial aid prohibition for
  higher education so that the prohibition scope is
  smaller and ineligibility is not permanent
• Create effective vocational programs that focus
  not only to improve ex-offenders job skills but
  also to improve job readiness, provide case
  management for other services, place ex-offenders
  in jobs, and continue to work with them for a
  follow-up period

34
Addressing Education and Vocational Training
Barriers

• Advocate for more resources to support needed
  educational programs for ex-offenders
• Support collaborations among community
  organizations to link institutional education
  with community-based education programs
• Collaborate with local governments, social
  service and community organizations to create job
  referral/search assistance programs and job
  training in your counties

35
Examples of Offender Job Training Programs

• National Transitional Jobs Network
• Building Jobs/Rebuilding Lives
• (The Home Builders Institute/The educational arm
  of the National Association of Home Builders)
• Goodwill Industries JOTO
• Builders of Hope

36
Employment Resources (contd)

• Employment Security Commission
• WOTC, Federal Bonding
• JobLink (One Stop Career Centers)
• Department of Labor
• Employment Information Handbook for Ex-Offenders
• Goodwill Industries (Promising Practices)

37
Employment Resources

• National H.I.R.E. Network
• (www.hirenetwork.org)
• National Institute of Corrections
• (www.nicic.org)
• Resources for Ex-Offender Job Seekers
• (www.iseek.org)
• National Institute of Justice
• (www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij)

38
Community Support for Offender Employment

• Expand outreach and education in the employment
  sector as many are reluctant to hire felons
• Endorse employer incentive programs that hire
  ex-offenders
• Create additional training and apprenticeship
  programs that could provide opportunities for
  ex-offenders to learn trade skills and workplace
  expectations

39
The Hidden Workforce
40
Questions Answers
41
Office of Transition Services Staff

• Monica L. Artis, Community Development Specialist
• email monica.artis_at_doc.nc.gov
• [phone]
• Vincent Gaddy, Community Development Specialist
• email vincent.gaddy_at_doc.nc.gov
• [phone]
• Roshanna S. Parker, Research and Evaluation
  Analyst
• email roshanna.parker_at_doc.nc.gov
• [phone]
• http//www.doc.state.nc.us/rap/OTS.htm