The Wayman Ministries pastor, Rev. Mark Griffin of Jacksonville, Florida bought into a new twist on an age old problem. Returning ex-offenders to society has never been easy. Worsened by the length of incarceration, the open doors from prison finds the ex-offender faced with a new society, new world, and a freedom that finds limited support.
A few years back I interviewed Major Poynter at the Dinsmore Work Release Center, an affiliate of a Lawtey prison, in Jacksonville’s Dinsmore area. A relatively small group of men are moved to Dinsmore as part of a transition from prison in an attempt to give the ex-offenders a chance to find employment. Employment is the critical item to their release.
Many of the men are not from the Jacksonville area, so their release is even tougher since without employment they do not have local family for support. If work is not found within a specified time, Major Poynter says the ex-offender is returned to Lawtey to finish out their sentence or possibly getting another opportunity later.
This past week I received a study of men released from prisons in other areas around the nation that could possibly be indicators of how to change our systems in Northeast Florida from one of possibilities to one of probabilities.
The study, Life After Prison: Tracking the Experiences of Male Prisoners Returning to Chicago, Cleveland, and Houston (Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center) focuses mainly on prior release involvement by the prisoner. It also points to the need for focus by employers and those that provide the workforce skills, knowledge, and attitude assistance to employees. As much as we speak about the ex-offender, focusing on the entire workforce that have the same concerns and needs we can improve all of Jacksonville employees.
In the coming days I will explore more about the similarities of the current workforce and ex-offender needs. Let’s make the Jacksonville area workforce the best.
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