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NEWS AND EVENTS

 

In the news:

 

Opportunity for former offenders seeking employment in the new "Green Economy"

    - Available to individuals living in the 80205 zip code

 

"Senator Udall Visits Mi Casa, Discusses Removing Barriers for Unemployed Ex-Offenders"

 

Link to Full Article

    

Link to MiCasa's Website

 

In the news:

 

     February 17, 2010  - MSNBC.com

"Unable to get jobs, freed inmates returning to jail

Recidivism rate likely to rise as jobless rate for ex-cons may be 60 percent"

 

By Eve Tahmincioglu 

 

A growing number of states are pushing inmates out of prison in early release programs designed to reduce overcrowding and save money. But faced with a tight job market and few employers willing to hire someone with a criminal record, many former inmates are likely to end up right back behind bars.

Last month, California began releasing prisoners deemed at low risk for re-offending. Colorado, Oregon, Kentucky and Connecticut, all wracked with budgetary issues, have instituted similar moves as a way to cut costs, while others, including Michigan and Mississippi, are considering similar initiatives.

“If people get drawn back into the real world, get a job and make a living, studies show they’ll be less likely to go back to prison,” said Howard Husock, vice president for policy research for The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. “With early release now on the menu for so many states, it makes the matter more pressing.”

The cost of housing, feeding and providing medical care for America's prison population has surged over the past two decades, from $11 billion a year to more than $50 billion, as states passed tough laws that put more offenders behind bars.

 

By the end of 2008, more than 7.3 million people were on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole — about one in every 31 U.S. adults, compared with one in every 77 adults in 1982, according to a 2009 report from the Pew Center on the States.

 

About 700,000 inmates are released from state and federal prison each year. Of those released, about two-thirds re-offend within three years, said Husock.

 

Lack of job opportunities
Despite being offered a taste of freedom, some inmates released early under state programs are already returning to prison.

 

Of the first 10 inmates in Colorado's early release program, which began in October, three are back behind bars, according to Katherine Sanguinetti, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections.

 

Sanguinetti would not comment on if any of the 10 former inmates were able to secure employment, but prison advocates in the state point to a tough employment picture for all former inmates, not just those being released early.

 

“A lot of people are hitting a very poor economy,” said Carol Peeples, re-entry coordinator for the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition in Denver. Even in a good economy, “over half go back to jail in three years. The lack of employment plays a big part in this.”

With national unemployment hovering just under 10 percent, former inmates are competing for jobs with those who never served time behind bars. Although the U.S. Department of Labor does not track the unemployment rate for former offenders, experts estimate the jobless rate for individuals with a prison record is from 40 percent to 60 percent.

 

Take Johnathan Barker, who was released from a Colorado prison last June, and can’t find the one thing he needs to keep him from going right back: a full-time, good-paying job.

Barker, 34, lives in a halfway house in Denver and has applied for about 60 openings. Even with his extensive background as an apartment manager before he was incarcerated on a drug-dealing conviction, he was only able to land a part-time telemarketing job paying $7.28 an hour. “It’s not enough to pay the bills,” he said. “I’m constantly in a hole, and I could end up back in jail.”

Randall Countryman, 40, of Chula Vista, Calif., echoes Barker’s concerns. He was released from prison in May after serving 21 years for attempted murder and armed robbery.

He’s working on getting his bachelor's degree in business and maintaining a 4.0 GPA. But after applying for 90 positions, he was able to land only a five-week temporary job with a printing company.

“People want to hire the best they can get right now,” he said. “Someone with a felony conviction is not best you can get.”

 

....Click here for rest of article...

 

Tremendous challenges
Despite the difficulties inmates may face when they come out, most prisoner advocates still believe releasing low-risk prisoners early is a good idea.

 

 “Yes, there are people who will get so overwhelmed with not being able to get a job, that they will          actually choose to go back” to prison, said Tina Yankee, who runs Turnabout Inc., a Denver-based         nonprofit that helps released prisoners get jobs. “But keeping people locked up because the             economy stinks is not workable in my eyes.”

 

Some states that have instituted early release programs have encountered resistance, primarily over concerns about public safety. In Illinois, the governor ended a short-lived early release program in December because so many inmates were ending up back in jail. And Oregon’s legislators last week began moving a bill through the state Capitol that would suspend an early release law passed last summer, which critics said has led to the release of some violent offenders.

Of the 6,500 California prisoners targeted for release this year, many were involved in prison job-training programs or passed a high school equivalency exam, according to Gordon Hinkle, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

“Some offenders, no matter what you do, will get out and succeed and go on with their life. Some offenders need assistance, and some will be recidivists no matter what you do,” said Scott Kernan, undersecretary of operations at the California corrections department. “We focus on those that are going to make it.”

 

A steady paycheck
It’s impossible to know how successful or unsuccessful any of these state initiatives to release inmates early will be or whether they’re really end up saving money.

But history may not bode well for them.

 

Malcolm Young, an attorney and adjunct professor at Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law, pointed out that in the mid-1980s during the severe recession, Texas released many inmates early. “They came back in such numbers that the initial decrease in population turned into an increase," he said.

 

Preparing and training inmates in vocational jobs for emerging industries, such as green technologies, should be a focus, Young said. He pointed to a program at Chicago’s Sheridan prison that has shown success training prisoners in the trades for construction work.

 

Another program showing signs of success is the Prisoner Re-entry Initiative in Newark, N.J., which focuses on getting ex-inmates working in transitional jobs within six months of their release.

 

The initiative gets state and federal funding, and it includes an eight-week “Clean and Green” program that gets ex-offenders doing things like landscaping and paving, and building job skills like showing up to work every morning on time, said Ingrid Johnson, who runs the program.

“Not everyone is ready for workforce. They need to be trained not only in job skills, but basic employability issues,” she said.

 

Keith Williams, who left jail in July, went through the Clean and Green program, and feels it got him on the right track. Williams, 43, is up for a full-time job with a construction company and is hopeful he’ll be made an offer soon.

 

“It very important to have a job so you got a steady paycheck coming and you keep your mind focused on doing what’s right,” he said. “I’m staying out of jail. I’m not going back.”

© 2010 MSNBC.com

 

In the news:

 

 

 

In the news:

January 2010 – WIRED in Action, 2010  www.metrodenver.org

 

Final report - Workforce in Regional Economic Development / Metro Denver  

In today’s global economy, regions around the world compete for the high-wage jobs that drive economic growth and prosperity. As the economic dust settles and economies begin to grow again, the regions that are best at developing talent with a capacity to innovate will be the most successful at attracting and incubating the companies that can produce 21st Century goods and services, including: the most energy-efficient modes of transportation, the drugs to eradicate cancer and heart disease and the technologies to clean our air and water and deter terrorism.

 

In late 2005, the nine-county Metro Denver region competed nationally with more than 100 other regions for the WIRED grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.  The Region received one of 13 WIRED grants for $15 million. The Metro Denver WIRED focused on four high-wage industries: aerospace, bioscience, energy and information technology-software. 

 

The Rev. Tina Yankee, Executive Director of Turnabout, Inc. in late 2007 made application under the category of energy.  Turnabout was one of 26 organizations awarded funds through three rounds of grant funding. At the end of the grant there were two examples given of how the funds were used as “seed money” to start or advance their programs and be innovative in ways to continue their good work.

Turnabout’s program and Colorado State University were the only two selected for examples. CSU trained students and existing workers on how to bring a product to market in the bioscience field and Turnabout trained and placed non-violent former offenders in the emerging green energy field.

Turnabout was successful in spite of the current economic crisis by thinking outside the box. Turnabout partnered with industry, religious organizations, and other nonprofits to develop a market for energy efficiency services. Turnabout helped found a “think tank” of more than 40 significant leaders in the “green movement,” and formed their new division Faith BUILDings Alliance (FBA).

 

FBA created a formal program that assists leaders of churches and other faith buildings with installation of renewable energy systems and improved energy efficiency measures. As part of the solution, Turnabout assisted in development of a third-party financing mechanism, as well as secured companies willing to hire Turnabout clients after their hands-on, real-world training.

 

The FBA program is a win-win-win: Members of faith buildings can save thousands of dollars through energy savings; Turnabout clients have a way of getting the training and real-world experience they need to land industry employment; the energy efficiency and renewable energy companies in the region have access to a pool of talented labor to support their business growth.

 

Turnabout’s level of care and guidance for its clients has helped them experience a high degree of personal growth and achievement. According to Turnabout, the Colorado Department of Corrections has an average recidivism rate of 40 percent. At of the end of Turnabout’s WIRED grant, none of their clients (59 trained and placed) have recidivated.

 

In the news:

Turnabout’s new division: Faith BUILDings Alliance- August 1, 2009

 

One of the most successful nonprofit agencies in the state has launched a new program to bring green to religious sectors of all kinds, and to businesses and individuals who wish to invest in the growing demands of the new energy economy.

 

The Rev. Tina Yankee, Executive Director of Denver-based Turnabout Inc., says the Faith BUILDings Alliance program will upgrade energy efficiency in existing churches, synagogues, temples, schools and other faith owned buildings while working to pass along federal tax credits and other monetary incentives to private sponsors and investors. At the same time, the program will provide new jobs in the energy sector for many people in need.

 

Turnabout currently provides counseling, training and job placement within the energy sector to parolees, young adults, veterans and other target groups. As executive director, Yankee realized through steering her agency’s mission that most older religious buildings are woefully lacking modern energy-saving systems and techniques. The result is many thousands of dollars lost in wasted energy – dollars that could be saved and passed along to the program’s partners while benefiting us all by reducing the carbon footprint.

 

Yankee’s plan calls for partnering  with individuals and private businesses to help provide a financing structure to refit existing tax-exempt buildings with wind, solar and other renewable energy systems, and in some instances simply retooling existing structures to be more energy efficient. Much of the funding for the new program is expected to come from government grants, for which Turnabout, Inc., has become a major choice of the U.S. Department of Labor through its years of nonprofit service. The nonprofit is an outreach of Trinity United Methodist Church, and has for years proved through independent certified audits to practice transparency in all of its financial dealings.

 

Yankee began with Turnabout in 1997, and has become a leader in energy issues within the faith-based community. She also has served for many years as a community pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America/Our Savior’s Lutheran. She says Faith BUILDings Alliance program is particularly exciting because it will pioneer ways for private companies and individuals to do business with religious organizations while creating new jobs and promoting one of the countries fastest growing and most important economic sectors. She currently is seeking partners from all areas of private business and labor organizations, religious institutions/judicatories, government programs, educational facilities as well as other nonprofit groups.

 

In the news:

 

In the news: 

New law gives Colorado ex-cons a better chance at a job

Article on Denver Business Journal Website

 

Much attention was given to Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter’s public signing of a law Monday that will ban gender discrimination in the setting of individual insurance rates. But it was a little-known bill that he signed in private that might have an even bigger impact on the business community.

 

House Bill 1023, sponsored by Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, prohibits an employee’s criminal history from being part of a lawsuit against a business unless that criminal history has direct applicability to the legal action. Legislators thought so highly of a measure that could lead more businesses to offer jobs to prior felons that not a single one of them voted against it.

 

The bill came from the interim Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force, of which Waller was a member and served as chairman for the economic development and job creation subcommittee. It was there that he learned businesses often won’t hire people with criminal records, no matter how long they’ve been clean or how unrelated those histories are to the jobs for which they’re applying, for fear of getting sued if that worker does anything wrong.

 

To use Waller’s example, if a business now hires a released felon to wash windows and that employee gets into a fight with someone walking down the street, the victim can sue the business, saying it was negligent in hiring someone who could be a danger to the public. Never mind that the felony might have been corporate tax evasion; the onus still rests on the business’ head when it comes to prior felons.

 

This, as you might guess, left a lot of people looking for second chances with even less willing takers and made businesses leery of hiring someone who otherwise might be a good fit. And Waller wanted to give prior felons a chance while protecting businesses from lawsuits.

 

So, HB 1023 prohibits information concerning a criminal’s history from being introduced in civil actions if the employee’s record is sealed, the employee got a pardon, the criminal history isn’t related to the facts of the case or the employee’s record is from an arrest or charge that did not result in a criminal conviction. Even Ritter, a former prosecutor, could see the merits in that.

 

This doesn’t let a business off the hook if, say, one were to hire someone convicted of breaking and entering to install alarms in homes and that employee then turns around and robs one of those homes. That actually would be negligent hiring by the business, Waller said.

 

But it could have at least a small impact both on the high unemployment rate and on businesses who have been hit by the recession and are looking for any financial reason — such as fear of a lawsuit — not to hire, Waller said.

 

“If we can protect business owners who are willing to take a chance on these guys, we should do that,” Waller said. “In these times when we haven’t done much for business, any little thing we can do for business is a good thing.

 

(Article originally from The Denver Business Journal, March, 29, 2010)

 

In the news: 

Governor Bill Ritter in State of the State address, January 11, 2007

“Let’s talk for a minute about public safety. I spent a career being tough on crime, trying to be smart on crime. Now we have to smarter than ever. Our social compact and our responsibility as government leaders to keep people safe demands it.  And so does our budget.”  He continued noting his selection of Judge Weir and Ari Zavaras in public safety and corrections positions, “making recidivism-reduction a top priority of these two departments. If we can prevent someone from re-offending, that’s one less victim. More than half of DOC inmates wind up back in prison within three years. That’s simply an unacceptable number. The costs are spiraling out of control and eating into our ability to fund education and health care. We can do better here in Colorado, and we’re going to.”  He also noted, “Developing programs that allow inmates to successfully re-enter society.” 

 

In the news: 

From Sue Windels: State Senator, District 19 – February 2007  (www.suewindels.com )

“Dear Friend: We’ve got a big problem! Our prisons are full. They’ve hung out the “No Vacancy” sign. Colorado’s prison population has grown from 11,577 inmates in 1996 to 22,012 inmates in 2006. Colorado’s Department of Corrections budget was $63 million in 1986 and grew to $585 million in 2006.

In 1977, Colorado incarcerated 89 inmates per 100,000 residents compared to 438 inmates per 100,000 residents in 2004.  In 1984, we spent 2.6% of our state budget on Corrections and it now takes 8.6% of our General Fund Budget.” 

Follow the above link to view other topics within this article: “Prison population growing.” “Why do we have such exploding prison population growth?” “Prison Reform.” “Bottom Line = Money.” “What are our priorities?”

 

Statistics

U.S. Prison Statistics - a record 7 million people- one in every 32 U.S. adults- was behind bars, on probation, or on parole by the end of the year 2005. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or in jail. [1]

 

Colorado Prison Statistics

  January 26, 2006 - Colorado currently operates 24 prisons

  28,243 persons under the jurisdiction of the CDOC (increase of 604%, since 1980)

 1992-2004 Colorado average annual prison population growth 7%, exceeds national average, 4.3%

 

Three primary factors to growth of prison population:

Increasing Sentence Length and Mandatory Sentencing- House Bill 85-1320 (the Mielke-Arnold Bill), doubled maximum sentences for all felonies, average sentence length increased by two-thirds, average length of stay has increased by 40%

 

The War on Drugs- The number of people sent to prison for drug offences has increased 476% (1987-2001), drug offenders are the fastest growing category of felons in Colorado prisons, 50% of those serving time for drug convictions were convicted of simple possession, as of 2004, there were 3932 people in prison for a drug offense, costing taxpayers over $106 million annually.

 

Legislation Requiring Mandatory Parole and Increased Revocation Rates on Parole- In 1993 the Colorado Legislature passed a law requiring all felons who were sentenced on or after July 1,1993 to serve a period of mandatory parole when they were released from prison (even if they serve everyday of their sentence). 28% of people who were sent to prison were revoked for technical parole violations- this means that a procedural violation occurred, but no new crime was committed.

 

Cost of Incarceration-

From fiscal year 1985-86 to 2005-06, appropriations to the DOC grew from $57 million to $533 million. Compound annual growth rate of 11.8%.

 

DOC General Fund appropriations are 8.6 of the state operating budget. In 1991, the General Fund limited their annual growth rate to 6%.

 

The average operating cost per state prison bed is $27,840. The average cost of construction is $83,360 per prison bed. The state will need an additional 8000 prison beds by 2011 to keep pace with the population growth. 

Odds of Going to Prison for Males Born in 2001 are 1 in 17[2]

 

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