Getting Former Inmates Back to Work

These programs help ex-prisoners deal with the hurdles of finding employment after time served.

A new job often means a fresh start, but even getting an interview can be especially challenging for someone ready to put a prior conviction behind them.

When former inmates return to everyday society, and want to rejoin the workforce, hurdles can surface that make it difficult for them to proceed. For example, they might not possess government issued identification anymore, other than a Department of Corrections ID, or they may lack the current job skills needed to be viable hires. Existing programs, as well as proposed legislation, might help former prisoners take the next steps on the path to reintegration. Getting released from incarceration is just the start of finding their place in the world.

In mid-June, state legislation was in the works that would smooth the road a bit for certain former inmates. The bipartisan bills would prohibit employment discrimination based on expunged criminal records, increase the pace and number of convictions that may be expunged, and cut down the wait time to expunge a juvenile record.

The bills are aimed at letting former inmates move forward if, in particular, they made mistakes in their youth. A statement from Governor Chris Christie explained that if passed, the state legislation would “return many more recovering addicts to their families, as productive members of society and help break the costly cycle of recidivism.” Senate bill S-3306 would prevent discrimination in the early stages of the job hunt if someone has current or expunged criminal records. A set of reforms were put forth in Senate bill S-3307 to increase the number of criminal records that could be expunged. Through Senate bill S-3308, the waiting period to expunge juvenile records would shrink to three years, down from five.

Beyond the proposed legislation, public and privately-run organizations already actively assist former inmates who want to get back to work. Former Governor Jim McGreevey chairs the New Jersey Reentry Corporation (NJRC), a nonprofit that works with ex-inmates and companies to reduce barriers to employment. Seeing that former inmates work again, he says, is a key part of preventing recidivism that is all too prevalent. “Within three years of post release, 52.7 percent of ex-convicts were rearrested and 39.8 percent were reconvicted,” McGreevey says. “Clearly, there is more work to do.”

Many of those released from prison want to live law-abiding lives, he says, and there is a basic need for services to help make that happen. This can include searching for housing, healthcare and legal services if they have any outstanding warrants. McGreevey says his organization helps address those issues for some 1,200 clients. An initial aspect of these efforts is a clinical assessment of healthcare and any addiction needs. “Between 70 and 74 percent of New Jersey’s prison population are clinically addicted,” McGreevey says. Sobriety is a critical part of NJRC, which works with addiction treatment centers across the state to ensure that former inmates abstain from substance abuse.

Assistance with navigating the complex regulations and requirements that must be adhered to after incarceration is another way the organization advocates for former inmates, he says. For instance, NJRC can help them procure the necessary information for obtaining a driver’s license, including any impediments that might prevent this. That could include outstanding municipal warrants or child support that is owed. “At the minimum, we know the playing field,” McGreevey says. “We know what we’re grappling with.”

The driver’s license is not just for the sake of getting behind the wheel of a car; former inmates need identification in order to apply for various types of assistance, such as Medicaid or housing, so they can be self-sufficient, he says. Naturally, that also includes being able to get to and from a potential job.

Providing opportunities for training and employment, McGreevey says, is part of the mission to see that everyone in the program goes to work or goes to school. This includes designing customized training plans that are tailored to the needs of employers. NJRC has set up pre-apprenticeship training for inmates to become laborers and carpenters, McGreevey says, and stay off the streets. “You’ve replaced the corner drug trade with a brotherhood and productive, healthy lifelong employment,” he says.

Job training is at the heart of the women in construction program run at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton. Christina Shockley, adult and continuing education coordinator, for the Hunterdon County Vocational School District, says this relatively new program will hopefully include multiple job areas in construction such as carpentry, electrical, plumbing, sheetrocking, roofing and masonry.

For the first program’s go-round, 25 women worked on building sheds, developing plans and learning how to do measurements. “It gave them a taste of the trades to see if this would be something they would be interested in,” Shockley says.

In some cases, inmates might not have considered work in these fields, she says. While various types of classes might be offered by correctional institutions themselves, this does not always lead to learning a trade that can sustain inmates after release. Having access to instructors and trainers made available through an entity such as the Hunterdon County Vocational School District can create such an opportunity. “We’re helping inmates, when they get released, have a skill that can make them employable,” Shockley says.

There are also state-led services to get former inmates into jobs. Patricia Moran, assistant commissioner of Workforce Development (an office within the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development (LWD), says that LWD and the New Jersey State Parole Board collaborated to launch the Parolee Employment Placement Program. This is a service that puts individuals in touch with a training provider who, if necessary, helps them if they do not have a high school diploma or an equivalent, she says.

Those who already have a diploma might still have reading, writing or problem-solving issues that need to be worked on to get them ready to work and matched with employers. Once they are placed, the program assesses to see if the former inmate is still employed after 30, 60 and 90 days. The objective is to get them ready for employment and reduce the likelihood of returning to incarceration, Moran says. “We do not want this person reoffending after entering this program,” she says. “We don’t want any blemish on their record at all.”

The success of former inmates to lead constructive lives after incarceration is supposed to be based on their effort and commitment to stay on the right path. Ensuring that they have the right kind of access to opportunities to pursue such a goal is healthy for society as a whole. “If persons being released from prison have access to supportive services, in large measure, they won’t commit another crime,” McGreevey says.