According to Pager, securing a job is the number one priority for most people when they are released from prison. However, civilians coming out of prison have a hard time securing a job and face a high risk of economic insecurity. This is due to the fact that most people coming out of prison are highly discriminated against on the basis of being uneducated and addicted to substance use. Additionally, society views the ex-prisoners as unfit to live in society. Being convicted of a felony bars them from entirely engaging in some job occupations. Once convicted of a crime and incarcerated, society’s perspective changes, and hence, the person is subjected to social stigmatization. However, the government has set up measures to ensure that ex-prisoners get employed to prevent them from returning to their old habits.
Prison Education and Work for Success
The government has set up special prison education programs to ensure that prisoners secure job opportunities. For instance, the work-for-success program in the United States has been established to train prisoners while still in prison. Most of the prisoners are given vocational training and credentials on how to effectively relate with their employers and society as a whole (Skarðhamar and Kjetil). This is to ensure that they gain skills and knowledge that they can apply once released. This training enables them to avoid cases of discrimination in the labour market. Additionally, the program contracts with some organizations, such as construction companies, in order to find positions for the prisoners once they are released. Moreover, the Work for Success program follows up on the performance of the ex-prisoners with the employers that hired them (Visher et al. 300). This is to ensure that they carry out their duties smoothly and effectively. The Work for Success program believes that training the prisoners helps dispel the stigmatization which currently exists in the labour market and society. According to them, the remedy for stigmatization is education.
Community Supervision and Reentry Support
Additionally, the government has established community supervision programs, for example, parole, which constantly communicates with the state regimes and could be leveraged in order to ensure the former prisoners have access to support and essential services such as food and shelter as well as probation services to help them refrain from substance use (Petersilia). These services act as survival strategies that enable them to regain economic independence and stability. The government has provided housing and other material support to most ex-prisoners. The established community programs are vital in helping the ex-offenders re-integrate back into society.
Identification and Employer Incentives
The government ensures that all offenders get proper identification prior to being released from prison. Having access to secured identification prior to release removes the anticipated barriers to employment. Moreover, it prevents the squandering of valuable transition time as the ex-prisoners wait for their identification to be released. Additionally, the government can provide incentives to employers such as tax reduction and credits, liability protection, and bonding programs. These incentives would protect employers against any losses that may arise from working with the ex-offenders. Also, the incentives encourage employers to hire former prisoners by offsetting their training and hiring costs.
Removing Legal Barriers to Employment
The government can improve the conditions of ex-offenders by removing some laws that restrict their economic independence. The government should remove legal barriers which restrict former prisoners from being employed. The state laws and policies end up making life difficult for them in their attempt to re-enter society as better people. For instance, the laws which suspend driving licenses for ex-offenders make it hard for them to find jobs as drivers (Visher et al. 700). Additionally, these laws make it difficult for them to commute to work once they find a job and hence inconvenience them. In this sense, the government can play a significant role in promoting the transition process of ex-offenders through the removal of these legal barriers that make some occupations inaccessible to them.
Delaying Criminal-History Questions
The government enhances the ex-prisoner’s change by enforcing reforms that increase the chances and likelihood of getting them employed. In this sense, the government postpones the questioning of applicants’ criminal histories during the hiring process. This gives them the opportunity to secure jobs. With the help of the government in concealing their criminal history, the ex-offenders are in a position to secure job positions in occupations that don’t hire personnel with criminal records. On the other hand, postponing the question about one’s criminal history during the interview process gives the employer enough time to assess the level of the ex-offenders’ skills and analyze whether they are fit for the job vacancies.
Government as a Model Employer
When appropriate, the government should act as a role model for other employers by first hiring ex-offenders. Hiring them would depict the seriousness of the state in helping them secure job opportunities and help them in their transitional journey. The level of success possessed by the government in securing and maintaining qualified employees will positively impact other employers’ inclination to acquire similar policies. Hiring them would also depict that the ex-offenders are fit to work and carry out different responsibilities responsibly, hence counteracting the popular belief that the ex-offenders are irresponsible and not capable of cooperating and working.
Works Cited
Pager, Devah. Marked: Race, crime, and finding work in an era of mass incarceration. University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Petersilia, Joan. When prisoners come home: Parole and prisoner reentry. Oxford University Press, 2003.
Skarðhamar, Torbjørn, and Kjetil Telle. “Life after prison: The relationship between employment and re-incarceration.” (2009).
Visher, Christy A., Laura Winterfield, and Mark B. Coggeshall. “Ex-offender employment programs and recidivism: A meta-analysis.” Journal of Experimental Criminology 1.3 (2005): 295-316.
Visher, Christy A., Sara A. Debus-Sherrill, and Jennifer Yahner. “Employment after prison: A longitudinal study of former prisoners.” Justice Quarterly 28.5 (2011): 698-718.
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