Employment after imprisonment

Upon release felons find it particularly difficult to reintegrate in society. Neighbours give them a blank stare, someone's family might close all doors but, most importantly, they very often find themselves shut out from employment.

Work gives dignity to any person let alone someone who has spent weeks, months or years behind bars. Prison is not an easy life. Sociologically, prisoners are cut off from the rest of society and live in a vacuum where there is no information.

This is in no way an accusation of the prison system. There are organisations and professionals who can see to this.

A recent non-representative study about what's hindering people from employment was conducted among eight ex-prisoners over the age of 25 (six males and two females); eight employers who covered different sectors in society (divided in employers, company policy-makers and human resources employees); and a number of stakeholders such as trade unions, NGOs and MPs.

Views on employing ex-inmates were expressed by employers. There were those who managed the company themselves (owners) and other high ranking employees in charge of human resources.

The main difference between the two groups is an important one. On one hand there are those who decide on the company policy themselves and so have a bit of leeway in deciding whom to employ and whom not to accept. Those who worked in HR had to follow company policies.

The latter (37.5 per cent) had to decide by the book because their first priority was the company. As any other employee, someone who works in HR needs to abide by orders and direction given to him. In fact, those responsible for the recruitment of personnel said they were not aware of any cases within their company when an ex-inmate was actually employed.

If, however, faced with the decision, they would still feel doubtful because it is seen as a big responsibility. Only one CEO said that everyone deserved a chance of being employed on the basis on trust and meritocracy and not positive discrimination.

Half of the owner-employers said they would consider employing an ex-inmate. Around 37.5 per cent of owner employers have employed ex-inmates because of religious values and because they believe that everyone deserves a second chance. While those (12.5 per cent) who never employed an ex-inmate because the chance never came along said that they would surely try the person out if he or she was recommended by a trustful person. Another said he would remain slightly doubtful but would consider employing an ex-inmate on recommendation.

Over 60 per cent of all employers do not ask for a police conduct certificate. In fact they recruit on recommendation and actually check the person's capability and not life history. They said everything depended also on the nature of the job, whether it was elementary (meeting people and interacting with them) or whether it was a 'backroom job'.

Jobs offered to former prisoners are less socially desirable; they involve some form of hard manual labour, poor working conditions, little security and low salary (Liker: 1982). Employers in the construction industry are willing to employ ex-inmates, however those in the chemical industry prefer not to for several reasons.

Employers prefer to offer backroom jobs so the company won't lose its credibility in any way. Few employers were asking for a conduct certificate but more are considering starting to do so for more professionalism during employment.

The graph on the left reveals the results after a hypothetical question that was posed to all employers; and the results show clearly that although there are plenty of doubtful minds, many believe that ex-inmates should have a chance for a job. Ex-substance abusers are more likely to be given an opportunity whereas ex-murderers, thieves, paedophiles and rapists do not feature in any employers' list.

Various issues were considered when speaking to ex-inmates. Among them were education, the length of their sentence, their crime, region and support network. These are very important for their outside life.

Educational courses are offered in prison, however with limitations. Less than Lm20,000 is allocated yearly to education within the correctional facility. This sum goes towards books, teachers' remuneration, computers and so on. However, the response by ex-inmates was that they did not really have many resources.

One outdated computer had to be used by more that one person and in this way they could not learn. On the other hand, a number of ex-inmates managed to obtain certificates and sit for exams ('O' Level, 'A' Level, Wiremen's License A&B, and three ex-inmates in the last five years completed a University course).

More needs to be done on this issue. A number of ex-inmates are really working hard to reintegrate in the same society which they offended years, months or even weeks back.

Around a quarter of the ex-inmates interviewed argued that they started a better life thanks to the rehabilitation they were offered in prison. Some also stressed the importance of being given a probation order. Other support networks, like that of other family members, NGOs or MPs also helped a few clean themselves up, find a job and start afresh.

Around half of those interviewed said that rehabilitation offered in prison was ineffective either because it was "nonsense", or was given to someone who didn't need it. Were it really effective they would not have committed the crime or succumbed to the vice again. The rest did not care about rehabilitation and refused to attend.

The problem is that the few employers who are ready to offer jobs to ex-inmates would like to have a professional referee to advise them about the individual's improvement. However, this is not possible because there are limited human resources in prison and few professionals who can follow everyone's progress.

Improvement needs to take place in prison for ex-inmates to integrate better into society with a future intent to reform. Moreover, the media needs to cover those occasions where ex-inmates make progress and not only concentrate on negative issues.

It is true that these people must pay their due to society if something wrong was committed in the first place, but it is also true that once their debt is paid it is their right to start a new joyous life.

For more information e-mail: ycc@onvol.net.