I know that unions complain about training inmates for various professions,
like masonry or tool and die workers, on the logical grounds that it would reduce
their average pay plus create a stigma about their profession.
But some jobs are always done by inmates. Many are cooks and launderers, gardeners and of course jail house paralegals.
What other jobs should we train them for, so they don’t go right back to crime?
Suicide bombers?
Childcare workers?
OK, now that I’ve got that out of my system…
I’m going to guess – and this is only a guess – that most incarcerated criminals would probably have wound up in the trades had they not turned to crime. There’s nothing wrong with being a launderer or gardener. As for masonry or tool-and-die workers, I can see the unions’ point. But if we as a society want to reduce crime, I think we need to give parolees the means to support themselves; otherwise what choice do they have but to return to crime and/or substance abuse? If a person has ‘paid his debt to Society’, then let it be marked paid.
Why not paralegal training for those who have the aptitude, and did not commit crimes where being a paralegal would cause the appearance of impropriety?
Most anything where they have limited forced contact with the public and limited supervision. Most of these folks have crappy interpersonal skills with “straights” and don’t do well (surprisingly) with being watched every minute.
I’d suggest auto mechanics, auto body shop, TV/computer repair, small engine repair, construction of all types. Places where they work with a limited number of other employees, so they can get used to the new environment more easily.
YMMV!
And they need to make a living wage. No way are they going to make it working for minimum. If they are going out on a limb to make a real change in their lives, they need to feel they are succeeding, making it in the straight world. If they can’t live on what they make the urge to go back to the old ways is almost impossible to resist. (Why should I bust my ass all day for nothing when I can make $XX dealing, stealing, etc.)
I’d go more with skills rather than a particular job. Teaching an inmate to weld would open up a huge area - everything from ornamental railings to heavy industrial fixtures. Likewise good woodworking skills would have a wide range of applications.
Quick story on the lighter side…
The guy I keep company with, Dave, used to work as a welder where I work building school furniture. In the time honoured tradition of sticking it to the new kid, he and his buddy Mario got one fresh-out-of-school guy, but good.
They’re a pretty skeevy looking pair. Dave’s just past fifty and Mario’s around sixty and they both look a little, uh, used. Anyway, this kid, Darcy, was of the gullible sort. About a week after he started, they went up to him and asked if he could drive. He wouldn’t need a license, just the ability.
Um, yeah he could. Why?
Well, it seems that they had learned to weld in prison together and back in the day the province had a contract with the prison to make furniture for schools and when they got out the factory had gone privatized and so they stayed on. Heh. Complete BS, of course. Anyway, there was this bank they had their eye on…could he meet then about two am?
Well, the poor kid was sweating bullets. If he turned them down, knowing now about the planned heist, what would they do? If he went along, he’d be in a bank robbery!
Now when I say gullible, keep in mind they’d already got him once before. Another fellow started on the same day and promptly quit. Dave managed to convince Darcy that the guy got fired for spitting on the floor. He also had him believing that the welders had to buy their own gas and wire, both of which items he was let off the hook about by the end of the day. He should have smelled a rat - no, a couple of rats - right away.
They did confess pretty quick and Darcy stayed on for several months but I think that somewhere in the back of his mind remained the question…
Just where did those guys learn to weld?!
It seems from those programs some prisons have where inmates foster/train dogs that many criminals are able to relate better to animals than people, so what about jobs like animal control, pest control, or even pet grooming?
Another idea: Sales.
Some criminals actually have a good personality for sales (charismatic and “charming”) so as long as you could put them in positions where they did the talking to the customers but someone else handled the financial aspect of the transaction (if you were concerned about identity theft or financial theft from the company) why not?
Your problem to teaching skills to prisoners is that their education levels are generally abysmal.
The first thing they need is the ability to read, write and basic math. By basic, I mean to the level of 8 year old.
By the time they have learned these things, through repeat jail terms, its too late, they are normally in their late 20’s early 30’s.
There is another group of prisoners, the minority, for whom prison education offers nothing, as they do have literacy and numberacy skills at adult levels, few jails have the facilities to teach trades to a true occupational level - which means genuine real world work targets. These ones are less likely to reoffend.
Instead of directing resources to prisoners, these should be used long before the get into offending, if it needs one to one teaching, if it needs one to one trade training for lenghty periods, then so be it - it is expensive but it would work better.
I think a large part of criminals are due to the drugs. They get hooked and steal and rob to get money for their next fix. When you’re on drugs it’s hard to hold a decent job.
I knew one guy, I was the overnight manager in a hotel and he seemed to be really intelligent and I interviewed for the job as overnight janitor. We had one guy and he’d make up a room if needed or a guest requested it and he’d mop and get the laundry straightend out.
And I H/R kept pushing me to hire him. So I did, after a bit, he told me he had been in jail (h/r never told me this) and that he was in a drug rehab and he wanted the job because it was hard work that kept him constantly busy. He said he gets into trouble whenever he has time on his hands. I guess he stayed in a halfway house with strict rules so that was OK, and at night he worked at the cleaning job.
So I guess a simple job without pressure and that keeps your mind constantly focused does have uses. He was still there when I left.
I think you are right. Any job at all will work as long as someone tells them what to do and removes the pressure that makes them quit.
I’ve never hired an addict but I once was handed a problem drinking programmer
that “was too senior to fire”. He kept reporting back to work after a liquid lunch
and missed his deadlines. He was in a downward spiral.
I first told him I didn’t care if he got drunk at noon but he couldn’t come back. He
could use sick days, ad hoc vacation he’d built up, work weekends, or just take unpaid half day leaves, etc. I would sign any honest time card.
Then I switched him to software maintenance, where there were no deadlines,
only quotas of bugs fixed.
He suddenly was no longer a problem for me, work was no longer a problem for him, he got back his self-respect, and was soon taking fewer and fewer half days off.
Already being done, kind of. Inmates at the NC Women’s Prison answer calls to some state public-affairs bureaus, like (but not necessarily for example) the board of tourism. So they’re kinda selling North Carolina.
My ex-father-in-law used to work at the prison and used to tell stories. One was about a lady who was exceptionally good at this job, and who occasionally had to talk people out of wanting to meet her in person without saying that she was an inmate. One of her better lines was in the vein of, “Well, I live in what you might call a ‘gated community.’”
That phrase hasn’t meant the same thing to me since.
They could probably learn all those Dirty Jobs on that TV show on Discover Channel.
And the residual stink of clearing storm drains would gross out their former gang members.
Some of the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have (or at least had) prisoners on day release. It’s a pretty good environment. Rigid work schedule and many jobs that require minimal training.
Locksmithing.
No, wait. Scratch that.
I think it would be a good idea to teach inmates a basic grounding in business and bookkeeping. That way, they might figure out just how economically dumb it is to make a living as a thief or a dope dealer.
I guess farm labor is one way to distance urban criminals from their old habits.
And riding along with a big harvester is as far as you can get.
There are, or used to be, carreer counselors in high school. Something along those lines that matches aptitude, skills, and education to the job market. Then make the training available.
Also, recognize and acknowledge the vast void between violent and non-violent criminals.
Peace,
mangeorge
Don’t be so quick. Some cons bring a unique perspective to the security field.
Assuming basic literacy, the logical thing to do would be to train them for jobs that
Good machinists, fitter/welders, and truck drivers are almost always in short supply. Other factory jobs would be useful too - it’s not easy to find someone who’s got solid skills in things like powder coating.