Prison Path
Job Interviews as a Former Inmate
Many prisons and jails do not prepare ex-inmates to return to the outside world. In order for a returning citizen not to become another statistic in our recidivism rate, he or she will need a job. The majority of prisons, jails, and even local re-entry programs do not provide the former inmate the basic skills for finding employment including how to interview for a job. From my personal prison experience, another inmate, a successful businessman, and I had prepared a basic re-entry job program for inmates at our pre-release center which included, “How to interview for a job.” Although the program and its written material received excellent feedback from the prison administration, it died a slow administrative death. The program was never approved, despite a number of young inmates eagerly signing up for it.
A job interview is stressful under even normal circumstances. If the job interviewee is a former inmate, the pressure increases a hundredfold.
In order to give the returning citizen, the means to achieve a successful job interview, our proposed program reviewed the usual issues such as dress, posture, job application and other crucial elements of a job interview. We did not avoid the elephant in the room. The job applicant has a criminal record. The former inmate cannot avoid facing the facts of the past. It is important for the returning citizen to make clear he or she has regretted and taken responsibility for any past actions. However, the applicant can point to a good prison record, certificates for successful education programs, and a good job record during imprisonment. It can only help that a returning citizen has supervised a kitchen staff or custodial crew for five years.
In other words, the former inmate (now a returning citizen) should accept the lemons and make lemonade. It does not mean that a former inmate will succeed in that particular job interview, but the returning citizen will increase the chances of a successful job interview down the long road of re-entering society.
Hello Brad, Indeed, I believe that the prison/jail systems often fall short, and not always for lack of trying, in preparing inmates for re-entry into the “outside world,” however once a program fails … we must hope that the information be used to foster growth and new knowledge to move forward towards initiation of a better program course, and not stopping at failure. This is the very essence of the attitude that we teach our ex-offenders to adopt and develop … then how can we simply sit back and accept defeat when initial programs fail? We must have more than… Read more »
Hi Tami,
Excellent points. Effective Re-Entry starts in the prison and ends in the local community.
Brad,
prisonpath.com
Traditional criminal jutisce case processing is based on the concepts of incapacitation and deterrence with little focus on rehabilitation. With over two decades of punitive ‘get tough’ legislation and ballot measures (such as mandatory minimums, truth-in-sentencing laws, and three-strikes-and-you’re-out laws), rehabilitation is not a priority in our nation’s correctional system. The Oregon Department of Corrections estimates that close to 75% of the 14,000+ inmates have an alcohol/drug problem and nearly 60% of the inmates are substance dependent. However, there are only approximately 274 residential treatment beds for men and only 54 residential treatment beds for women inside four of the… Read more »
Most States have a Restoration of Civil Rights statute. You can additionally apply for a Pardon. Let’s take a look at my State Nevada. Restoration of Civil Rights : http://www.doc.nv.gov/?q=node/77 You will note the Right to Vote is restored. http://www.doc.nv.gov/?q=node/77
Here is the Pardon Statute in Nevada: NRS 213.090 Pardon: Restoration of civil rights; relieved of disabilities; limitations
Here is the DOJ on Civil Rights: http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/restore_vote.php
By:Bonnie
As a retired Federal Probation Officer I wholeheartedly agree that an ex-inmate should be able to use his/ her successful prison-job experience as a reference. However, my experience on the federal and state levels is that the penal institutions are very reluctant to release those references to the inmate or even the parole office. Without that written confirmation of the releasee’s achievement, he/she is in a no-win situation.
By:Charles
MDOC’s prisoner reentry program includes classes in resume writing, applying for jobs, interviewing (to include answering the tough questions), encourages prisoners to use their prison job experience and prison employee references.
By:Warren
Very good article Mr. Schwartz- thank you for posting it.
I agree with everything said so far in this discussion except for Ms Kern’s suggestion that a majority of the population is forced into a criminal caste. The number is probably closer to 5% of the total population.
The vast majority of the population are hard-working, law-abiding folks with no criminal history whatsoever.
By:Scott
Apparently I did not make clear the point that I was talking about the majority of people with a criminal history. They are being forced to metaphorically wear a life long badge of ex-con which places them in a permanent criminal caste. People, who were arrested, convicted and completed their sentence decades ago find it difficult to find employment when employers look them up on the web. The employer does not look to see when the offense happened because they have hundreds of others applying for the same position who have no criminal record. Additionally, this population is forced in… Read more »
Expungement is seldom achieved, and a pardon does not expunge a person’s criminal history. A pardon simply shows that the governor believes the person has changed their behaviors to the point that the errant is no longer a threat to themselves or others. Their criminal history still shows up. I check ‘yes’ to the box so I am not lying because I did commit the crime, and then put “1963 – overdrawn checks, restoration of citizenship in 1974 and executive pardon in 1982”. A simple web search to Iowa Courts Online shows every interaction with the courts, but most employers… Read more »
I want to thank you for so openly and honestly expressing your very qualified views on this matter. It has provided me a great deal to consider. Please understand I do not mean any of this sarcastically at all but, I have no intention of debating punishment vs. rehabilitation which I think we have almost set the stage for, instead, please accept my thanks for providing a solution to a question which has tied me up here for years. My question was; How is it possible that given excellent and freely available educational resources at all educational levels, top professional… Read more »
For me, this was my dilemma in the 1960s: I remember a lot of people yelling at me, “You just don’t get it! You just don’t get it!” And they were right, I didn’ t get it. But they wouldn’t tell me what “it” was or where “it” was so I could get some and they were always mad at me for not having any. I was afraid to ask because I didn’t want to look stupid. It was hard for me to stop doing what had helped me survive in a dangerous world of a pedophile and rage toward… Read more »
You asked: “My question was; How is it possible that given excellent and freely available educational resources at all educational levels, top professional educators and mental health workers dedicated to the task, almost unlimited tax payer funding and support, with local, state, and national government resources, charitable and government programs ready to pick up with assistance after release, and with state and national mandates to reduce recidivism and return these offenders to roles that contribute to our society, we are still failing?” My answer: 1) What is your criteria for determining success versus failure? In baseball, a .400 hitter will… Read more »
I have to say so many times inmates came back into the prison or jail I worked for back again for stealing, do drugs or whatever they could to make money to survive back on the street. This is an idea that would really make a huge difference in recidivism rates. It would help if Community Corrections also helped in finding them work, based off their experience. More and more of our Correctional system needs to revolve around actually Correcting behavior.
By:Ryan
Cognitive behavioral therapy worked well on me and many of the people who have also attended the 12-Step meetings that kept me sober for over thirty three years. We started with a skewed world view being raised in whatever jungle we grew up in. Mine was on a farm with a pedophile grandfather and a mother’s rage toward me because I would not shut up about the atrocities when I talked to her. Others grew up ducking from gun shots and running from or joining gangs in urban areas. I have listened to similar stories from people in all socioeconomic… Read more »
This is the most important area of rehabilitation.Diring my studies in Japan,it was observed,that prison authorities start preparing several months before the actual day of release of a prisoner from jail.the arrangement for his work and abode in society is ready even in case of long term prisoners,the prisoners are kept abreast of physical and technological changes which took place in their absence in the places where they have to resettle .For this purpose the prisoners are given a trip to see the out side world.This all is much conducive to bring down rate of recidivism which is one of… Read more »
With out the proper training on the necessary skill needed to compete in the workforce, ex-offender will get frustrated and revert to their old ways.
By:Craig
Authors Norad and Carlan suggest on page 330 that “drug cotrus seem to be an alternative that satisfies both conservative and positivist factions.” This statement points to key reasons why the drug court model is so effective: it attempts to balance the contributions and concerns of all stakeholders. When individuals struggling with addiction, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, social service personnel, law enforcement, probation & parole officers, treatment providers, and larger community work in collaboration, it seems like common sense that a more holistic, deeper change is bound to occur—both in the addicted clients and the community itself. Of course not… Read more »