Running head: FROM PRISON TO PROFESSION 1

From Prison to Profession

Persuasion Effect Project

Julio A. Mercado

Salt Lake Community College- ENGL 2010-online

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Abstract

This Formal Report will take a look at what happens to former inmates when it is time to

leave Prison. It will look at where they turn for assistance and what ethical issues they face in

the job market, show what is currently available to inmates as services upon release from the

Utah Department of Corrections (UDC), along with what the job market for felons looks like and

offer recommendations to prepare inmates re-entering society with a criminal past. The findings

will be based on what the current Utah market shows and what career fields are in demand

considering a criminal background restriction.

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From Prison to Profession

Persuasion Effect Project

“I was at a point that I wanted to kill myself because I hated who I was and the life that I

lived” (O’Rourke, 2017). Sadly, comments like these are all too common among inmates as they

express their hopeless view of their future. It feels as though their opportunities in life are over

for them and they have no chance at becoming free again ultimately nothing is left but the regret

and shame of their past decisions. Some folks in society may say that this is the inmate’s

punishment for the bad decisions they have made in the past. The reality is that most inmates

eventually are released from prison and have to try and rebuild a life from ground zero- keep in

mind, they become our next door neighbors.

Because of these difficulties, it really causes all the rest of society some legitimate issues.

What the statistics just showed us is that nearly two thirds of former inmates will reoddenf and

return to prison, these crimes an potentially be perpetrated on any innocent bystander. There are

some very real financial costs that come out of this. In the last 30 years, the U.S. prison

population grew from 190,000 to 2.2 million. The nation’s parole population grew by 1.6%, an

increase of 12,556 parolees (Burke 2016). The Nations Crime Prevention Council reports that in

the last 20 years, the number of people who are homeless has almost doubled from 440,000 to

840,000 across the United Stated. More than 7 million children under the age of 18 (approx 10%

of the US population) have a parent in state or federal prison, jail, or on probation or parole

(Petersilla 2013).

One of the most important things in life is a career that provides individuals with the

opportunities to not just get a job but to get a livable wage job that strands them away from going

back into their criminal ways of obtaining a way of life. What comes to mind then is what is
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being doing behind the fences to help inmates prior to release, some which have done up to 20

years behind bars? This Formal Report will take a look at what current problems inmates are

facing when they are wanting to find employment, what opportunities are out there for them and

will wrap up with recommendations.

Approximately 3,000 inmates are paroled from prison each year in Utah. According to a

recent study by Pew Research Center, 54% will return to prison within a 36 month period (3

years total). Nationally, about 65% will return to prison within 3 years, and more than 80% of

those returned offenders will be unemployed at the time of their arrest (UDC,2014). What this

shows is a large number of re-offenses all due in fact because individuals cannot find livable

wage employment.Specifically, individuals are facing labor market obstacles when trying to find

employment and job searching, including the fact that they may have a felony on their record,

inadequete education and work experience, and no access to transportation (Visher er

al.,2008;Visher et al., 2010)

Looking at our own state of Utah Department of Corrections, there are some good things

being done. A specific division of the Department named UCI- Utah Correctional Industries, in

cooperation with the federal Department of Justice, has began an apprenticeship certificate

program. This program is based on national standards for any given field of work and certifies

current inmates to have the skills and hours to work in that field. The current choices available to

Utah inmates is cabinet making, horticulturist, and janitorial services. In 2009, the Utah

Department of Corrections also created a program for inmates called the Employment Placement

Project (EPP). This specific project outlines assistance to inmates who are integrating back to

society to find job placement. An 8 hour workshop is provided, it focuses on employment

skills,proper business etiquette, and resume writing (Fowles & Nystrom 2014). In Utah, this
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program is being called as the Utah Defendant Offender Workforce Development Task Force

(UDOWD). Later, this program was re-furbished in August of 2017 and was renamed as the

Achieving Success Through Collaborative Engagement and Navigated Transition (ASCENT)

which puts a focus on partnerships with other agencies beyond employment and looks at what

obstacles need to be covered. The obstacles that are covered and looked at with this program are

housing, treatment, transportation, employment, and education. The big focus is to help prior

offenders from re-offending and guide them to a safer lifestyle. Some of the partners associated

with ASCENT include:Corrections, Board of Pardons and Parole, Workforce Services, Human

Services, Office of Rehabilitation, State office of Education, Utah Housing Authority, faith

groups, treatment providers, and others. (UDC, 2017).

In a research study done by Richard Fowles and Sofia Nystrom at the Department of

Economics, University of Utah-they found that since the use of these specialized task forces

available to inmates there has been a reduction of recidivism in Utah at 8.6 percent. They also

found an improvement in empkoyment of 15.3 percent in the group who had received EPP

services (Fowles & Nystrom, 2014). In our chapter five readings on “Who gets what and why”,

there is discussion made that those who are poor have an adult literacy rate of 60 percent less, a

nutritional level, for one out of every two in the population, below acceptable standards (Honest

Work, 2007). Many people who have been incarcerated and then are released into socidety hit the

povery level rather quickly. As many times they have nowhere to turn for help, have no support

system or simply do not know where to turn for help. Most basic needs are met for all inmates

during incarceration, they have access to medication, room and board, food, education services

and self-bettering courses. Upon release many do not have these services any longer and many

times turn towards the only way they know how to gain them, illegal activity.
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As the Utah Job Market was reviewed, many things had to be kept in mind. The strongest

being that there is a high difference between jobs available to all and those jobs willing to hire

folks with a criminal record that may or may not be able to pass a employment required criminal

background check.This is largely the biggest barrier for most that causes old lifestyle trends to

come back into play. One safe way to approach this is to not have individuals just apply to any

and all jobs but rather create lists of Felon friendly jobs that accept individuals with Felony

records,this way they avoid the constant rejection. Below, in the report under “figures” I have

attached some Projected Employment Growth charts from the Utah Department of Workforce

Services websites.

As we can see based on the attached charts, many of the largest employment providers

are in the medical field. If you have a criminal record however, these are close to impossible to

attain. Many times these jobs deal with a lot of personal/medical information ,access to drugs,

along with the requirement of state licensing requirements which in turn are also prevented to

those with a criminal record. As for the highest growing job fields, there is much hope for former

inmates. As the chart below from the Department of Workforce Services shows, there is a

projected 3.7% increase for jobs in Construction from 2014-2024. Also expected to increase are

Transportation and Warehouse work, Manufacturing, Food Services along with Support and

Waste Management Services. Historically, all of these have been felon friendly employers. Based

on this data, recommendations can now be made as far as what the needs of education and

training are for inmates currently incarcerated close to release who are planning on joining any

of these fields through Utah Correctional Industries (UCI).

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An inmates progress should really be an ultimate bridge from being incarcerated to the

professional world. As inmates progress, there should be opportunities for them to gain

employment while incarcerated learning marketable skills, completing apprenticeship

certificatios and learning soft skills as to how to explain their crimes to potential employers and

sell themselves into the career they wish. They should also be provided with job searching skills

that includes, housing, medical aid, childcare and so forth. Ideally, upon the release of an inmate

theyu should have access to some sort of a portfolio gathered throughout their time spent

incarcerated. This should potentially include a flashdrive that has been uploaded with the inmates

resume, certifications, references, etc. In todays society, much applications for job hiring is done

online- this allows inmates who have been gone for a decade or longer to have access to these

items electronically. There should also be an offender guidebook of sorts that is a hardcopy-

printed booklet full of information as to how an inmate can establish themselves such as gaining

identification and housing all the way to obtaining food stamps and child care.
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Figures Department of Workforce Services:

www.jobs.utah.gov/wi/data/firm/majoremployers.html

Other then the resolutions If the Utah Department of Corrections fully supports this idea, then in

cooperation with the Utah Correctional Industries and the UDOWD and ASCENT programs due

to all of them offering individuals who represent such a wide variety of staff across the board

from various departments there are many ideas and thoughts that can be offered. These thoughts

were ran by several current offenders along with recently released Kenneth O’Rourke to get

feedback as to the need of these services. The folllowing should be done:

o Conducting Mock Interviews with current employers to show not only the

inmates what an interview takes-but this way they get actual feedback from

employers. This also helps employers see the skill set that is behind the fences

and allows for a trusting relationship to be had between the Utah Department of

Corrections and the community.

o Organizing job fairs for soon to be released inmates- bringing in actual felon

friendly employers and creating a job fair within the fences where inmates can

apply prior to their release date- they can work out a proper start date if hired.

o Provide a dress for success closet for inmates- donated and volunteered

professional outfits- teach inmates how to dress and groom professionally for job

placement.

o Provide hard skills training such as resume writing, job searching, interviewing

skills and teaching about language and tone along with career planning-long term

and short term.

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o Bring in programs that teach soft skills such as the unspoken rules of employment

(example: the importance of coming to work on time,breaks,getting along with

co-workers,etc.)

o Coordinate with the inmates parole officers so that duplicatin of services isn’t

happening.

o Look for more certifications (other then the three that are currently in place) – that

go hand in hand with the charts of exoected career jumps over the next few years

in the state of Utah.

o Create some type of a career office/center for inmates where they can come in and

have access to work on resumes, look up jobs, apply for documents- with a career

specialist present (possibly a partnership with the Department of Workforce

Services)

o Work on a buddy-system, something similar to “Big Brothers Big Sisters”- a

volunteer program that inmates can be coupled with a positive member in society

who can be a support system for them or someone to just talk to if they feel they

do not have anyone else.

o Community partnerships should be looked at for donations for these programs

(other states mention the following as being donators: Goodwill, Deseret

Industries, OSHA, applied colleges)

o In-depth research by professionals should be conducted to research what the

actual criminal needs are of an incarcerated individual.

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o Funding these programs can come from opean grants and revolving funds from

the Department of Corrections and Utah Correctional Industries along with

donators.

o Startegic plan or a sort of standard should be implemented with goals and vision

placed- these should be measurable for future reports on recidivism rates

o Staff should be accordingly trained in distrinctive areas

o Educational partnerships can be looked at with state Universities and Colleges

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References

Ciulla, J.B., Martin, C., & Solomon, R. C. (2007). Honest Work a business ethics reader. New

York: Oxford University.

O’ Rourke, K. (Feb,2018). Personal Interview-UDC

James, A (Feb,2018). Personal Interview-UDC

Anonymous Current Inmate. ( Feb,2018) Personal Interview- UDC

Burke,P. (2016). Successful Transition and Reentry for Safer Communities: A Call to

Action for Parole. National Crime Prevention Council. Retrieved from www.appa-net.org

Federal Bureau of Prisons (2017). The Mock Job Fair Handbook. Retrieved from

www.unicor.gov/publications/fpi/mock_job_fair_c.pdf

Fowles, R., & Nystrom, S. (2014). An evaluation of Utah Department of

Corrections’Employment Placement Project.

Pertesillia J. (2013) When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner. U.S. Department

of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Utah Department of Corrections (2017). Utah Defendant Offender Workforce

Development Task. Retrieved from

www.corrections.utah.gov/images/Brooke/UDOWD%20Flyer%20214.pdf

Utah Department of Corrections (2016). New Initiative to Aid Transition. Retrieved from

www.corrections.utah.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1124:new-

initiative-to-aid-transition&catid=8&Itemid=119

Utah Department of Workforce Services (2017). Job-Seeker Workshop. Retrieved from

www.jobs.utah.gov/jobseeker/workshop
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Utah Department of Workforce Services (2015). Utah Occupational Projections 2015-

2017. Retrieved from www.jobs.utah.gov/wi/data/employment/shorttermoccproj.html

Visher, C. A., Debus, S., & Yahner, J. (2008). Employment After Prison: A Longitudinal

Study of Releases in Three States. Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center.

Visher C.A., Smolter, N., & O’Connell, D. (2010). Workforce Development Program: A

Pilot Study of Its Impact in the U.S. Probation Office. Federal Probation, 74 (3).