New series to tackle prisoner re-entry
Every day this blog gets lots of hits from people searching phrases like jobs for ex offenders employers, training programs for ex offenders, or employment outcomes for recidivism. In other words, this is an issue of great interest.
No wonder. The prison population rate in the U.S. far outstrips any other country in the industrialized world. The OECD Factbook 2008 reports that 725 of every 100,000 Americans are in prison or jail. By comparison, India, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria and Italy each has in its prisons fewer than 100 out of every 100,000 inhabitants.
Whatever your opinion of those numbers and their causes, one thing is certain: a high prison population translates into a large number of people living prison eventually. Some 600,000 each year in the U.S. Most of them will need significant help to re-integrate into society and find jobs where they can support themselves and their families. I think this is one of the biggest problems facing American society and our nation's workforce development system. We can't leave it to the prisons to handle this on their own.
That's why Workforce Developments is launching a new monthly column. Starting tomorrow, on the first Wednesday of each month Racy Ming will write about Prisoner Re-entry issues. Here's a brief bio:
Racy Ming has ten years experience in education and workforce evaluation and program administration. She's currently manager of the Marin Employment Connection, the one-stop in Marin County, CA. She is also chair of the board for the California Re-Entry Program at San Quentin.
After earning her undergraduate and masters degrees at Stanford University, Racy worked in education research and program evaluation for SRI International and at Mills College in Oakland. Her work on desegregation politics in San Francisco was published in the journal, Urban Education. At the Marin Employment Connection, she has oversight of one-stop operations, Workforce Investment Act programs, grant funded projects and the county's General Assistance employable program. She also served for a number of years as a commissioner on the Sonoma County Human Services Commission.
A native of San Francisco, she is a big fan of the Stanford men's basketball team, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (check out this year's documentary winner, Planet B-Boy) and pug dogs. Despite her fear of being eaten by sharks, she is planning to learn to surf while in Kona next week.
Welcome aboard, Racy. You'll find all her posts under the Prisoner Re-entry link in the right column. If there are specific topics related to prisoner re-entry that you'd like to read about, please let Racy know in by commenting below.
I thought you might find the following information useful. Please share with your readers. Thanks!
In response to the growing use of online and kiosk employment applications, the Offender Workforce Development Division of the National Institute of Corrections has developed simulation software that allows offenders to practice completing an employment application on personal computers that do not have access to the Internet. The software is CD-based and is compatible with the Windows® operating system.
According to John Moore, Chief of the Offender Workforce Development Division of the National Institute of Corrections, "many of the prisoners being released from correctional facilities are ill-prepared to apply for jobs that have an online or kiosk-based employment application owing to their inexperience with computers and the Internet." Moore adds that "most jails and prisons do not allow prisoners to access the Internet, creating a barrier for preparing inmates to compete in today's technologically driven human resources environment."
The software developed by the National Institute of Corrections overcomes this barrier by simulating the experience of completing an online application. The software also educates the user about online applications, provides a printable worksheet that can be used to prepare offenders for completing these applications, and allows the user to print out the entries made during the simulation. Context sensitive help is provided throughout the simulation.
The Online/Kiosk Employment Application Simulation is suitable for corrections, probation, and parole agencies as well as faith-based and community organizations. It is available at no cost from the National Institute of Corrections through the agency's Information Center. To obtain a copy of the software or download it, you may do so on the web by going to http://www.nicic.gov/Library/022996 . You may also obtain a copy by calling the Information Center at 1-800-877-1461 or emailing asknicic@nicic.org. Request item # 022996.
Posted by: jraknyc | May 21, 2008 at 10:44 AM
This looks terrific. I'm going to take a closer look. Thanks so much for the heads up.
Posted by: Bronwyn | May 22, 2008 at 07:49 AM