NCJ Number
188153
Date Published
April 2001
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article provides a description of the Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Correction and Rehabilitation's ex-offender employment project.
Abstract
Prior research has suggested that the idea of preparing offenders for release through job training and connections to community services has been commanded by prisons with jails having found little opportunity to do the same preparation for offenders. This article describes one local jail in Maryland that realized the benefits of pre-release job training for offenders and has been providing job readiness training for offenders since the 1970's. Under the 2000 Federal Workforce Investment Act, requiring the creation of one-stop centers to enhance employment service delivery and workforce development (i.e. training, job banks, classes, housing commission, mental health, disabilities programs, and job training) and a Federal grant received through the State of Maryland's, Office of Crime Control and Prevention, the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation started a new offender employment project. The Department placed an offender employment specialist in the MontgomeryWorks one-stop center to assist ex-offenders. The offender employment specialist must spend time getting to know the offender who is within 90 days of release (providing job preparation and readiness training) and get to know the local business community to educate them and understand local employers' needs. Offenders on probation, parole, and any State ex-offender can take advantage of the services. Since the program's inception in 2000, MontgomeryWorks has screened 328 offenders and placed about 130 in employment, training, or education at an average wage of $9 an hour. Ten percent of those placed were women and the jobs ranged from skilled to semi-skilled and from computer technicians to landscapers.