Articles & News

February 18, 2009

Finding jobs after jail a difficult task

By Mike Stucka, Staff Writer, http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_047231051.html?keyword=secondarystory

MIDDLETON — Middleton Jail inmates see a job counselor within days of their arrival, beginning an extended job training program designed to keep them from returning to a life of crime.

There's one problem: The economy's making it harder to find jobs.

From a pre-release facility in Lawrence and several halfway houses, some 66 male inmates are working regular jobs that help them get ready for their release. But another 24 men are waiting for jobs — an unemployment rate of 30 percent.

"They're all going back to the community after their stay is over," said Paul Fleming, a spokesman for the Essex County Sheriff's Department. "We're trying to end the revolving door of habitual offenders."

As more civilians are laid off, they're increasingly turning to the low-paying jobs in warehouses and other less desirable places that have often hired inmates, said Joseph Furnari, superintendent of the Correctional Alternative Center known as "The Farm" in Lawrence, where many Middleton inmates work hard to get to.

Because of problems matching the inmates with jobs, the Essex County Sheriff's Department has shifted more staff toward scouring want ads. Every department employee is supposed to spread the word when they spot a "help wanted" sign in a window.

But even when the economy was good, it was hard to find the inmates jobs, said Scott Scharffenberg, the assistant superintendent at The Farm.

"It's never been a great sell," he said. "We've been fortunate to keep our employers."

Kevin Dunn, who has been working at a Salem car salvage yard for more than three years — most of that while wearing a monitoring bracelet — said such jobs are critical. He said he left the jail system with about $7,800 saved up from his work at A&H Auto Exchange, letting him rent an apartment and buy furniture to get on his feet. Dunn, 41, said he's been able to turn away from alcohol, reconnect with his family and value responsibilities.

"If it wasn't for having the job and the employment, I don't think much of this could happen," he said. "You could go through the programs and stay in the facility, and then what? You get out and you have no money, and you can't find a job."

Leah Harrington, director of administrative operations, said employers get more interested when the details are explained. Every inmate will be on time and appropriately dressed, and have typically gotten both job training and general education.

"Most people are receptive to giving people a chance," she said.

And the program seems to work well, with graduates being about one-fifth as likely to commit another crime. Harrington said some 7.8 percent of inmates from the re-entry center have been charged with another crime, compared to 37.4 percent of inmates in the Middleton Jail's regular population.

Fleming said similar programs for women run on a smaller scale in Salisbury. There, 25 women are working and four are eligible to work but haven't found jobs, for an unemployment rate of about 13 percent.

'Comfortable environment'

Besides reducing crime, the program has other benefits: Working inmates can pay $3 million a year in rent that taxpayers won't have to cover. They also have money for child support payments and restitution.

Sean Lebroda, director of re-entry for the Sheriff's Department, said that almost from the beginning inmates are encouraged toward the rehabilitation programs. Most inmates have a drug addiction and get treatment. Others need help with basic job skills, from creating a resume to knowing how to dress. And still others work on their GEDs or turn to training that includes a barber school and a kitchen. Only the best-behaved and enthusiastic inmates are allowed to go on the work-release program after training.

Robert Jerin, an Endicott College professor of criminal justice, said such programs make it much easier for inmates to be successful when they're released. That makes the programs crucial, but the economy makes it more difficult for the inmates to succeed in moving away from a life of crime.

"The jobs are difficult for anybody right now, much less offenders," he said. "When we run into hard economic times the less-skilled jobs are sometimes the first ones to go."

Dunn said employers would benefit by hiring people like him.

"They're usually really good people and I think it'd be worth giving them a shot," he said. "I've seen a lot of places that were delighted to have them. Everyone gets cleaned up, gets to work, gets dressed, and they do good work."