Prisoner re-entry program ‘is clearly the best’
By Marguerite R. Telford
For the St. Louis American
By the end of this year, approximately 20,365 inmates will finish their prison sentences and return to neighborhoods across Missouri. Many of these men and women will be joining thousands of ex-offenders who already live in St. Louis. Every one of us has a stake in seeing these individuals become healthy, law abiding neighbors.
Fortunately, the Eastern District of Missouri Probation Office has made it a priority to ensure that ex-offenders successfully re-enter society.
Aware that unemployed ex-offenders are three times more likely to return to prison, Chief Probation Officer Douglas Burris has made employment a vital part of his office’s re-entry program. In just five years, the ex-offender unemployment rate has been cut in half. This has been achieved by creating partnerships with community groups to find inmates productive jobs and reorganizing the entire probation office to focus on cutting unemployment.
The Probation Office has established a network of employers, organized job fairs, encouraged mentor programs and developed partnerships with community non-profit groups. These local groups provide clothes for job interviews, assistance in preparing resumes, preparation for job interviews, job training, and drug and alcohol abuse treatment.
A great example of the work these partnerships can achieve was the recent job fair, “The Partnership for Success Career Fair for Ex-Offenders.” Despite the area’s worst storm in years, close to 500 committed and prepared former inmates showed up to seek honest work.
This 5th Annual Job Fair partnered government groups such as the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, US Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, Missouri Board of Probation and Parole, and the St Louis City Probation Office with community groups such as Connections to Success, Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS), Father’s Support Center, Citizens for Community Improvement, St. Patrick’s Center, and Criminal Justice Ministry-St. Vincent de Paul.
This cooperation between government and community organizations has had remarkable success in helping prisoners make the transition home safely. This quarter’s unemployment rate for federal ex-offenders was 2.9 percent, which is startling when compared to the overall St. Louis unemployment rate of 4.2 percent.
These figures tell us that ex-offenders want to work; they want to support themselves and their families; they want to prove to themselves and others that they can make it; and they do not want to return to prison. The statistics speak for themselves. With well thought out and appropriate assistance, these individuals do more than just stay out of prison, they become assets to our community.
Ex-offenders succeeding outside of prison means safer communities and fewer victims. The lower recidivism rates mean less money spent on our prisons (it costs $23,000 to incarcerate a prisoner for a year). Of course, employed ex-offenders become taxpayers, too. But most importantly, successful integration back into society results in stronger families and better communities.
St. Louis has been so successful in helping ex-offenders succeed outside the prison walls that many cities are looking to St. Louis for help setting up similar programs. In attendance at Friday’s job fair were federal probation officers from several states, including Florida, Virginia, Delaware and Texas, who are looking at the St. Louis job placement program as a model.
“Chief Probation Officer Doug Burris and his team in St. Louis are leading the way in linking prisoners to honest, productive work,” remarked Pat Nolan, Vice President of Prison Fellowship and author of When Prisoners Return. “Of all the re-entry efforts across the nation, St. Louis is clearly the best.”
St. Louis has shown that when government and community work together everyone benefits.