Focus

When I began this blog a while ago I didn't know what I would write about. I hadn't focused upon any particular aspect of my reentry experience that would fuel a regular stream of ideas worthy of a dedicated readership. I have that focus now. I have decided to share my thoughts here about the clients that I meet, from day-to-day.

Everyday I see or speak to yet another formerly incarcerated person who has either just come home from prison, or who got out of prison a while ago but still needs help making progress toward self sufficiency. On most days, I meet several new clients. Their circumstances have their own nuances of particularity. Still, most of the stories ring very familiar. The two (2) biggest areas of need for my clients are jobs and housing. In the literature on reentry, employment and housing are, virtually always, ranked as the greatest needs, depending on the source. Most of us on the reentry front lines, though, agree that the number one need among the reentering population is employment. That is, once we get the job we can pay for the housing.

Now, a large number of landlords will not rent to someone with a criminal background. That often remains a problem for a reentering person because the housing choices don't always inspire the sense of satisfaction most people want to feel about the place in which they live. Nevertheless, if a reentering person has enough of an income to pay for a decent place to live, he or she can usually find such a place--unless that reentering person happens to have a sex offense. But then, unless you've paid no attention to the news in recent years, you already have some idea of the housing restrictions imposed upon former sex offenders. I will leave that discussion for another blog.

So, invariably, most of my clients report that their prime need is a job. With the country in the midst of the worst job market in almost 30 years, the job prospects for persons returning to our communities from prison have never been worse. So, what do I say to someone who comes to me, exasperated, desperate, and all-but-broken by the inability to earn even a minimum-wage income? That depends on what I glean about that person's individual circumstances, and upon what I understand about the presence or lack of options for that person in my community.

If the client has a living arrangement that allows him the opportunity for a more thoughtful approach to his predicament, I usually advise him or her to consider the one (1) local job readiness workshop that provides a good degree of supportive services, including help with transportation costs, tools, and clothing, once a job is found, until the client has the first pay check in hand. If, however, the client's living arrangements are more stressful--which is most of the time--my focus turns to the temporary agencies that have demonstrated some willingness to place my clients in temp work assignments. Most agencies don't want to deal with former offenders who have convictions for sex-related or violent crimes. Virtually all of the agencies that will place my clients have their own criteria regarding how old the crimes in question have to be, and how long the client must have been out of prison. In most cases, an agency won't touch a client who hasn't been out of prison for years.

Currently, an unemployed person without a criminal background remains out of work for an average of six (6) months. In contrast, over half of all formerly incarcerated persons remain without a job they can call their own for longer than a year--and, in many cases, much longer. If our economy is bad now, how much worse would it be if most unemployed persons remained unemployed for over a year? That calculation doesn't require higher math.

The next time the subject of high recidivism rates comes up, ask that question.