Correctional Manpower Programs U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR MANPOWER ADMINISTRATION PB96A~~ II II' Satisfying work experience for institutionalized offenders, including vocational and prevocational training when needed, and the assurance of decent jobs for released offenders should be at the heart of the correctional process. President's Task Force on Prisoner Rehabilitation April1970 Correctional Manpower Programs U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Peter J. Brennan, Secretary Manpower Administration 1973 For sale by tha Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Olllca, Washington, D.C. 20402 Price: 25 cents, domestic postpaid; 15 cants, GPO Bookstore Stock Number 2900-00182 CORRECTIONAL MANPOWER PROGRAMS About 1.5 million people on any day-perhaps twice that number in the course of a year-are under the authority of the criminal justice system, which includes 50 State and well over 3,000 county and municipal systems, plus the Federal system. No one knows how many of those released are rehabilitated by their prison experience, but it is painfully evident that many return for a second or third time, or even more. These offenders against the law, whether they are probationers, parolees, persons awaiting trial, or prison inmates about to be released, are absolutely last in line for jobs-if they get in the line at all. They, most of all, are the disadvantaged of our societyusually unskilled, without personal or financial resources-caught early in life in the corroding cycle of crime, jail, and joblessness. Yet, an offender can be helped to become a human asset as well as an economic one to the Nation. Many attempts to do this have been made over the years by individual correctional institutions, by the courts, by State and Federal agencies, and by local communities. Departmenl of Labor's Role As early as 1964, the U.S. Department of Labor's Manpower Administration explored inmates' needs for vocational training and job-finding assistance through research, demonstration, and pilot projects. From 1968 to early 1974, these programs and others also being funded under the Manpower Development and Training Act (MOTA) should reach over 75,'t>OO persons in the criminal justicesystem-through manpower training, remedial education, and supportive services. But one-pronged, separate efforts have not been too successful in breaking-for an appreciable period of time or for any considerable number of people-the pattern of release and return to prison. So, the Department of Labor has joined other Federal agencies on the Inter-Agency Council on Corrections. Working to coordinate the efforts of all agencies with correctional responsibilities, the Council advises and assists in planning and reviewing research projects, disseminates findings, and assembles information on the relevant activities of its member agencies. This pamphlet discusses the current efforts of the Department of Labor in the correctional manpower area. The programs support the Administration's call to modernize correctional programs so that they become the beginning of a way back for offenders to a productive life within the law. Federal Bonding Program Started as a demonstration project under the 1965 MDTA amendments, this program offers bonding coverage to manpower program graduates who cannot obtain it commercially but need it to get a job they otherwise qualify for. Workers with police records usually do not meet the standards for commercial bonding, which employers often require them to have as protection against loss from infidelity, dishonesty, or default. The number of people bonded has been small-over 4,200-but for each, bonding was the key to getting a job. In fact, the availability of bonding for these workers enhanced their prospects with many employers. With over 1,000 people currently bonded, the default rate since the program started has been only 1.6 percent. Because of the success of this approach, the program is available nationwide through State employment service systems. Pretrial Intervention The pretrial intervention program has a three-fold goal: To help accused offenders get back into worthwhile, productive lifestyles; to give the criminal justice system more flexibility and effectiveness4 as a rehabilitation mechanism; and to reduce the rates-and consequent costs-of recidivism in the community. Project staff screen accused defendants prior to their court hearings. If an eligible defendant wants to enter the program, the staff member-with the approval of the prosecuting attorney-makes a recommendation to the judge in arraignment court for a continuance of the case to permit the defendant to participate in the program, usually for 90 days. While in the program, the participant is given counseling, information on job and training opportunities, and supportive services. Educational services, including preparation for the high school equivalency examination, remedial reading, and job-test coaching, are also available. Job interviews are set up and the participant is followed up and evaluated, even after job placement is made. When the continuance period is over, the project counselor may recommend one of the following actions: Dismissal of charges based on satisfactory participation and demonstrated self-improvement; extension of the continuance; or return of the defendant to normal court processing, without prejudice, because of unsatisfactory performance. Eight metropolitan areas have pretrial intervention projects. The Department of Labor is funding those in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Minneapolis, San Antonio, and the San Francisco Bay area. In Newark and Hudson County, N.J., the sponsoring agent is the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration of the U.S. Department of Justice, with job development funded by the Department of Labor. Two earlier demonstration projects-in Washington, D.C., and New York City-have been continued and expanded by local agencies, attesting to the success of these projects. Inmate Training This initial effort of the Department of Labor to provide manpower services to offenders has grown into a nationwide program avail able usually in State institutions, with some in Federal institutions or county jails. In this joint effort of the U.S. Departments of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare-in consultation with correc tional authorities-inmates receive basic or remedial education, prevocational training, institutional skill training, work experience both on and-off the prison site, and vital supportive services. The training may be for such jobs as carpenter, mechanical draftsman, welder, accounting clerk, or auto repairman, among others i11 demand occupations. Most of the projects provide stipends to inmates while they are in training. A portion of the payment is held back to be used as "gate money" to help cushion the offender's adjustment during the difficult postrelease period. Since fiscal year 1972, the Department of Labor has been decen tralizing this program from the national level to the regions and States. Employment Service Models for Ex-Offenders In order to concentrate employment service (ES) resources on bringing offenders into contact with job and training opportunities, ES models were developed to: Create a corrections desk in each State office as well as in the State's largest urban area; station specialized counselors, job developers, and community aides in correctional institutions and in local ES offices; and hire former inmates to help other offenders make the adjustment to outside life. The focus of the ES model is on continuing service to inmates before and after release to. help them get and stay on their jobs. The average placement rate has been 51 percent, with 18-to 25year-olds earning from $1.70 to $2.25 an hour in their postrelease jobs; those over 25 earn $2.00 to $3.00 to start. The models operate in Arizona, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania and are now under State funding. State Comprehensive Offender Manpower Programs In any State, the employment service cannot provide all the manpower and supportive services that its offender population might need, so comprehensive State models were started to bring together other agencies, private groups, and the Department of Labor programs in an umbrella-type approach. Under planning grants from the Department of Labor, eight States (Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas): Identify the manpower and related services needed by all groups in the correctional population; determine the best methods of delivering these services; obtain commitments from all public and private agencies within the State to provide needed services; and work out the interagency agreements necessary to operate a comprehensive program. After a review of the plan, the Department of Labor agrees to fund certain portions of the State program. The programs discussed earlier in this pamphlet are available as components of the State models, and some of the benefits that could be realized from this approach are: Fuller utilization of work training and release laws in conjunction with vocational training projects; involvement of State officials, especially as vocational training is decentralized; and modification of State personnel sys6 tems to allow hiring ex-offenders and other workers without credentials but with required skills. Special Projects The following projects are examples of the types of programs the Department of Labor funds to develop innovative approaches to finding employment for ex-offenders: Juntos, Inc., of New Mexico opened manpower service centers for ex-offenders in the State's three largest cities. Over an 18-month period, 400 ex-offenders will receive manpower and related services as well as job placement-possibly in one of six businesses to be owned and run by ex-offenders. Along with setting up the businesses, self-help ex-offender groups will be organized. Denver Opportunity, Inc., a community action agency, is helping former inmates find jobs, as a way of removing the possibility of their return to crime or prison. Under its 18-month contract, Project Pinto will help 1,800 released offenders with counseling, referral to training or jobs, and assistance in finding housing and emergency financial aid, if needed. A Chicano self-help inmate group at the State penitentiary-the Latin American Development Society (LADS)-came up with the basic idea for the project, and ex-offenders are on the project's staff. To help with guidance and counseling, students from the Uni versity of Colorado's Denver Center will be "brothers" to partici pants as they adjust to life outside the prison. The U.S. Jaycees Foundation is expanding volunteer citizen in volvement nationwide through its State and local chapters to help inmates and ex-offenders become responsible citizens. Under a 1-year contract, the Jaycees' role is liaison between offenders and the community agencies offering needed services and also between prison Jaycee chapters and local Jaycee chapters, as well as cor rectional personnel. The Jaycees are developing and distributing training and information materials through a national center and giving training to chapter members (and members of involved pub lic and private groups) in how best to serve offenders' needs. An other important function is followup on the progress of ex-offenders as they move from release through job placement with Jaycees' help. Research and Development Projects The Manpower Administration's Office of Policy, Evaluation, and Research is continually looking to research and experimentation for new ways to improve the delivery of services to offenders. Being funded are: -A study of the effect of Federal, State, and local laws and policies on the hiring of ex-offenders. -An analysis of the role of financial asistance in rehabilitating offenders. -A look at State work release provis.ions, the extent of their use, and their impact on enrollees. -A survey of vocational training in correctional institutions. -A demonstration project emphasizing cooperative agreements between correctional authorities and inmates. To avoid duplication of research, the Department of Labor is working with the National Center on Crime and Delinquency to review future research proposals and coordinate them with other research units. Manpower Services to Drug Addicts Correctional manpower programs have usually excluded offenders with drug addictions because of the absence of comprehensive treatment programs needed for full rehabilitation. However, with the recent increases in crime due to drug addiction and the growing numbers of inmates with drug problems, this segment of prisonpopulation cannot continue to be ignored. Models for serving this group have been developed so that they can begin to receive manpower training and supportive services. Comprehensive Offender Program Effort (COPE) The ES models and State Comprehensive Offender Manpower Programs paved the way for COPE-a cooperative approach to solving offenders' problems by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Justice (Law Enforcement Assistance Administration), and Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1972, most of the States began to identify the numbers of people in various stages of their criminal justice system (pretrial, probation, incarceration, parole, and release) and their needs. Available programs were reviewed to determine which needs were being serviced, where gaps existed, and how resources might be redirected to close those gaps. The three Federal agencies are reviewing the State plans to determine to what extent through funding they can assist the States in providing all services required to meet their correctional needs. U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, 1973 0-505-459 Where To Get More Information For more information on correctional manpower programs, write to the Office of Employment Development Programs, Manpower Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C. 20210, or to the Regional Manpower Administration office servicing your area. Location John F. Kennedy Bldg. Boston, Mass. 02203 1515 Broadway-Am. 3713 New York, N.Y. 10036 P.O. Box 8796 Philadelphia, Pa. 19101 D. C. Manpower Administrator 14th and E Streets, NW. Washington, D. C. 20004 1371 Peachtree Street, NE. 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