Prisoners are constantly reintroduced to society, but without proper training, they may struggle to find a job in an already-tough market.
Organizations such as Re-Entry Solutions, which recently held open training sessions in Baton Rouge, can help prepare prisoners for life outside the confines of a cell.
Re-Entry Solutions trains prisoners in a variety of tasks, including acing crucial interview sessions with prospective employers.
According to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, around 15,000 prisoners are reintroduced into society each year.
Since 2000, an average of 680,000 inmates have been released from state and federal prisons with almost five million ex-offenders under some form of community-based supervision, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.
The company is relatively new to Baton Rouge, but it recently expanded to the river parishes after receiving a $30,000 grant from the Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation of Baton Rouge.
Like Re-Entry Solutions, businesses that aim to reintroduce ex-offenders into society usually contain three programs: those that take place during incarceration, those that determine the offenders’ needs and long-term programs which attempt to provide offenders with support and supervision.
The last comprehensive study surveyed the issue of recidivism — the rearrest, reconviction or reincarceration of an ex-offender within a given time frame — and was completed in 1994 by the Bureau of Justice.
The study showed that more than half of the prisoners who returned to jail did so due to technical violations of parole or probation, rather than being arrested for new crimes.
The study also showed the most effective ways to reintroduce offenders in society include training for jobs, drug-testing programs and halfway houses, which provide the offenders with a community and a place to live while they find work.
LSUPD Spokesman Capt. Cory Lalonde said he wasn’t sure of the actual statistics regarding the effectiveness of re-entry programs, but he thought with the rapid advancement of technology in recent years that training ex-offenders was crucial to them being successful.
“When I graduated high school, the Internet was something you used only for school, and that was rarely,” Lalonde said. “Now, people carry around smartphones wherever they go. I think society has at least some responsibility to teach [ex-offenders] how to make it in today’s age.”