Here’s an interesting paper on this subject. One point is that average IQ is 86. 15% of the prison population was below 75!
One thing obvious in these stats is that some (many?) of the prisoners must have pretty high IQs. I haven’t read the whole thing yet. it’s kinda long.
True, but you need to be sure the officials don’t assume literacy levels. You probably don’t want to put a law or medical school capable person in truck driver school.
In other words, we need to actually reward most of these people for their crimes.
That’s one of the funnier lines I’ve read in quite a while. 
Not often. Most crimes are bargained down, so a violent, unsuccessful drive-by shooting will be prosecuted as non-violent parole violation associating with ex-con.
Don’t do that.
Seriously?
Is that true, that most violent crimes are bargained down to non-violent? No violent crime should be tried as any less than that. Bargaining for a lighter sentence in exchange for a plea, I can see. Courts are overloaded. Taking inappropriate drug problems out of the legal system and moving them to medical would help that. De-criminalizing just marijuana would be a big start. All we need to do is add “and marijuana” to all the alchohol laws. Sell pot in the same places we sell booze. Nice tax source, eh?
My idea is that any inmates that don’t have a HS diploma, or GED have to go to “school”, and get a GED. Some will not want to get one, but if the policy is that you have to go to class everyday then some will get it just to get their free time back. This way atleast they leave if not better educated then atleast with one more thing to stick on that resume to make up for the inmate of the month entry under awards.
-Otanx
I don’t know what the industry is like today, in this economy, but when I lived in Joplin, MO - a major trucking center - trucking companies were begging, begging, for drivers, particularly of the long-haul, gone-for-weeks-at-a-time variety. Sign-on bonuses in the thousands were not uncommon.
IMHO, this would be the perfect job for a convicted felon - minimal contact with society, minimal supervision, and few demands (other than, you know, completing the route on time).
Would felons even be considered for a long distance truck driver position? Unsupervised access to many thousands of dollars worth of product seems to be the type of job that would do background screenings.
That’s one of the primary issues here – many, many jobs, including very low level jobs, automatically disqualify you if you are a felon. I worked in a call center and this was certainly the case.
Perhaps a program could be made where the gov’t helps subsidize the risk or provides insurance in these cases? While I realize in a way this is “rewarding” felons, there are truly limited options for such people to get proper jobs that actually pay enough to live on.
Good points, fluiddruid, and I like your idea about the gov’t insuring the risks (at least for the first year or so of employment).
IMHO, training felons for the trucking industry is a win-win situation (if the trucking industry cooperates, of course). Felons get job skills, which (in theory) keeps them from doing nothing and finding ways of getting into trouble, and an industry that has a hard time finding employees gets a pool of potential workers.
When I was in undergrad, we toured the women’s prison in Dwight, Illinois. The inmates there sew the uniforms for all prisoners throughout the state, and maybe jail uniforms as well.
There was also a companion-dog traning program there. Inmates trained dogs to be companions and to assist handicapped people, doing things like opening the fridge, cabinets, turning on/off lights, etc.
I believe another prison in IL is responsible for building/assembling office furniture used in state offices. Not sure which one that is now.
I think cooking skills would be useful, as well as entry-level pc skills, machinist, factory labor, gardening, etc – anything, really. Too many of these people have no skills at all.
I dug up a recent paperit’s a 32 page PDF on the effect of education on post-release prisoners. I have some trouble concentating, but it seems education, including higher education, has a positive effect. I don’t see why an ex-felon who works for it, just like anybody else, couldn’t fill a professional position. Some, I’m pretty sure, have become lawyers. I don’t want someone with engineering potential frying my hamburgers.
I’m going to try later for a more thorough reading, but those who are interested might give it a read and post an opinion.