SAN FRANCISCO — Today, more than 500 community leaders, community and faith-based service providers and formerly incarcerated men and women will gather for San Francisco’s third annual re-entry summit, “Reentry Works.” Re-entry is a term that describes the reintegration of former prisoners back into their community. This year’s summit focuses on the greatest challenge faced by many of the 9,500 former prisoners who live in San Francisco: finding a job.
Jesse P.’s story is typical. After serving 12 years in prison for a violent offense, Jesse was escorted to the gate, given $200 and a one-way bus ticket home. Within a few days, his money was gone and he had nowhere to live. With few skills, a felony jacket and no high school diploma, Jesse’s prospects looked bleak.
Every year, more than 137,000 parolees are released in California, including 2,400 who return to San Francisco. Of these, only 21 percent are expected to successfully complete parole. Most, like Jesse, have low levels of education, reside in poor neighborhoods and lack basic marketable job skills. With the advent of online criminal background checks, many are eliminated before they are even considered for employment.
Employers are understandably reluctant to hire offenders. Some jobs — such as transport, teaching, and child or patient care — automatically bar offenders. Employers may also fear legal liability if an offender commits a crime while employed. In a recent survey of employers, less than 40 percent said that they would consider hiring an offender.
So, what can be done to help a formerly incarcerated man or woman who wants to work and avoid the revolving prison doors?
The answer is stunningly simple: convince employers to hire offenders.
Studies and experience show that many offenders, if properly trained, make excellent and highly motivated employees. One case in point is Josef Corbin, who built a million-dollar construction industry by employing offenders. Corbin believes offenders, if given a chance, would choose to work rather than return to crime. Corbin knows this because he is an offender. He will be among the employers speaking at today’s summit to try to convince other employers to give offenders an opportunity to work.
The City has designed several programs to make hiring offenders an easier option for employers.
Last year, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi passed legislation creating a bonding program that provides employers with up to $5,000 of insurance against any legal liability they might incur; Mayor Gavin Newsom’s tax-credit program gives employers in certain parts of The City a tax incentive to hire offenders.
Recently, San Francisco formalized its re-entry efforts through the formation of an official Reentry Council. With the mayor, Board of Supervisors, district attorney, public defender, sheriff, and probation and parole agencies at its helm, the Reentry Council, working with dozens of re-entry service providers, will offer employment training, housing, education and health programs to hundreds of offenders, and report on the success of these efforts in reducing crime and improving outcomes for former prisoners.
These are among the innovative programs that will be profiled at today’s summit.
In Jesse’s case, within a few days of his release, he was accepted into a re-entry program initiated by the Sheriff’s Department called the No Violence Alliance. Jesse received temporary housing, job training and a transitional job at Goodwill Industries. Six months after his release from prison, using the job skills he learned at Goodwill, Jesse was hired as a laborer in the private sector where he now works full-time. Jesse pays his own rent on his apartment and will submit his first tax return next year.
Jesse is proof that re-entry works.
Jeff Adachi is the public defender for San Francisco.
Original Article
By: Jeff Adachi
Special to The Examiner
September 29, 2008
No Violence Alliance Project
A full-service prisoner re-entry pilot program and collaboration between the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department and community-based organizations.
Arranges for temporary housing
Referrals to a job-readiness program and potential employers
By the numbers
50 percent of parolees are functionally illiterate
27 percent of parolees and probationers need mental health services
74.6 percent require substance-abuse treatment
79.1 percent require some level of housing assistance