PRISON INMATES WORRIED ABOUT THE ECONOMIC CRISIS TOO—-AND FOR GOOD REASON
A column in the Milwaukee Journal by Eugene Kane reports exactly what I’ve been hearing from the guys who call me collect from prison. Men who will be coming out of lock-up in the coming months are worried sick about what the sliding economy means for their job prospects.
Here’s what Kane found:
An inmate at the Racine Youthful Offender Correctional Facility had a pointed question.
He might be released by the end of the year and wanted to know if the job situation would be improved by the time he got back on the streets.
Frankly, I didn’t know what to tell him but advised him that he shared the same worries of many Americans, including those who are not currently incarcerated.
In many ways, we’re all in the same boat.
My visit to the Racine prison last week to speak to a group of about 60 inmates revealed that many prisoners are concerned about the economy because they realize they have more strikes against them than most job applicants.
They are right to worry. Sixty-five percent of American employers say they won’t hire somebody with a felony record—and that’s in times of prosperity. When money and jobs are in short supply, I’d hesitate to even guess what percentage would be willing to give a job to a parolee.
Even more troubling, the jobs programs around Los Angeles who have traditionally given work to parolees—places like Homeboy Industries—are themselves hanging by a thread because of the loss of their usual funding sources.
I don’t know what to tell the guys who call me. I really don’t. I don’t want them to lose hope.
But a month ago there was a 300 person waiting list for Homeboy’s solar panel installation training program as you can see on this Good Morning America broadcast. Now that list is even longer.
So what is going to happen when there are no jobs to be had by those who desperately need and want to start their lives over?
It is not a happy thought—for them or for us.
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SARA JANE OLSON…RICH LADY’S PAROLE RULES?
In Sunday’s New York Times, author Caitlin Flanagan talks about why Sara Jane Olson should have to do her parole time in California not in her nice Tudor house in Minnesota, where she can return to doing…dinner theater.
(A topic that I covered here, last week.)
She makes some good points and does so eloquently.
(I liked the piece on its own merits. But since Flanagan quoted me for her essay—and quoted me correctly—admittedly, I was even more positively disposed.
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LA TIMES AND NY TIMES TELL REPUBLICANS BLOCKING FED $$$ FOR EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE TO GET A GRIP!
The New York Times told the increasingly irritating Bobby Jindal and Rick Perry of Texas that they were “putting ideology ahead of the needs of their constituents” in refusin to take the Federal aid offered to help those out of work in their respective states.
And here’s what the LA Times said this morning:
Imagine the federal government offering California more than $2.5 billion to help its unemployed workers. You’d think that lawmakers would leap at the money, especially with the unemployment rate climbing to 10.5% in February. And yet when the Assembly took up a bill last week to make the state eligible for the aid, resistance from Republicans left the measure one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed for speedy passage. Proponents plan to bring a new version of ABX3 23 to the Assembly today, and lawmakers shouldn’t hesitate to pass it.
Lawmakers and governors who would say no to easing the suffering of the unemployed of their state—-our state—-need a reality check. And soon.
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LA COUNTY PROBATION-RUN GROUP HOMES FOR KIDS…..GENERALLY FAIL TO HELP THE KIDS IN THEIR CARE
The LA Times reports a new RAND study on the subject that followed 450 kids who had been in these group homes. RAND found that, seven years later, most of the kids were not doing very well.
And how shocked are we? Not very. Helping kids requires that you actually, like, help them—which most of these places don’t.
“We cannot say that these group homes failed to improve anyone’s life, but the large number of poor outcomes we observed raises questions about whether the juvenile justice system is as effective in rehabilitating
delinquent youths as it should be,” said Rajeev Ramchand, the study’s lead author, according to The Times.
On most days in LA County there are 3000 kids in such homes.
That would be a really scary thought for people coming out of prisons this year. What are they supposed to do for work if they are trying to do things right this time?
In many ways, we’re all in the same boat.
No, we aren’t. I never committed a felony.
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Sixty-five percent of American employers say they won’t hire somebody with a felony record…. I don’t know what to tell the guys who call me.
Tell ’em, “That’ll teach you not to break the law.”
Better yet, tell gang members to look at the lives of these felons and say, “That’s your future if you don’t change.”
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Make Sara Jane Olson serve her parole in the cemetery tending to the grave of the woman she murdered.
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The unemployment money comes with strings requiring long-term additional taxes by the states. If this program is so important, then tell the President to remove those strings rather than blame the people who would have to come up with more money over the years.
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HOMES FOR KIDS…..GENERALLY FAIL TO HELP THE KIDS IN THEIR CARE
Then quit wasting money on it, like a lot of feel-good programs that fail to advance personal responsibility.
Celeste, does that picture portray a typical parolee who calls you? It reminds me of the Brinks Home Security ads showing someone breaking into a house. He’s always Caucasian. Why do you hate white people?
What a relief that the sane, rational heads prevailed on the Sara Olson case!
“Then quit wasting money on it, like a lot of feel-good programs that fail to advance personal responsibility.”
Good comment Woody –
Its also like the “feel good” extreme liberal blogs that try hard to defend these people.