Programs help inmates find jobs

Feb. 20, 2009

When inmates find jobs after they are released it helps make the communities safer, says a spokesperson for the John Howard Society.

Jen Daley is the society's executive director and helped organize a public forum at NBCC Miramichi Wednesday morning to discuss some of the difficulties inmates face as they try to find work outside of prison.

The forum's goal was to inform the community about the issue of inmate employment, she said.

"By employing in the long run we are promoting community safety."

About 150 people gathered in the college's gym to listen to presentations from prison officials and other people involved in the rehabilitation process.

Holly Frasier works at the Atlantic Institution in Renous where a program called CORCAN helps inmates develop skills as they provide services or goods to groups in and out of the prison system.

Some of the programs' projects at the Atlantic Institution include building screens for cubicle walls, making mattresses and blankets.

Frasier said Correctional Services Canada has a large research group in Ottawa to help develop successful programs used to rehabilitate inmates.

"They're not just someone's unfounded brainchild."

At the Atlantic Institution, inmates who work outside the CORCAN program make $6.09 per day doing things like cleaning or working in the kitchen, but the programs' jobs pay up to $207 a week.

The CORCAN workers also have increased access to movement within the prison walls, she said.

"They're the first offenders to move in the morning."

But Frasier said even with programs like CORCAN, prison officials can't make inmates take part in programs if they don't want to.

"We kind of live by the motto you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

Gordon Green is a prison chaplain and said some people fear what inmates will do once they're released or want them to stay in prison.

"If they come back to our community what then?"

Even though some people don't want to see former inmates in their community, Green said he thinks prisoners can change.

"I've always believed people could change if they wanted to."

As he spoke, Green recounted the story of a man he knew who was in jail for a long time and used the support systems in place to rehabilitate, build a family and fit into the community."

"Who wouldn't want that. As a matter of fact, who would want more than that?"

Daley said not every inmate who goes through the system changes, but a lot do.

"Some go in as youngsters and come out a different person."

Inmates face a lot of barriers and it's often hard for them to find jobs because many potential employers won't hire them without government subsidies, she said.

"They just need to see the big picture and sometimes it needs to be spelled out."

Karalee Gagnon is a criminal justice student at the college and said she wasn't aware of some of the programs available inside prisons.

"I think it's really helpful to the inmates and it proves our system does work."

In the long run, helping inmates find jobs will help lower repeat incarceration numbers.

"I think it will give them far more opportunities to be successful."