Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2017)
News Page 10 inmates, because this is my third time (incarcerated), and this is the only time that I’ve actually been given an opportunity to gain a skill, and this would be like a management skill,” he said. “I feel like if I was given that skill my first time, maybe I wouldn’t even be here this time.’’ Although, he said, he didn’t learn a whole lot the 2 1/2 years he spent folding clothes before he moved up to management “I like the fact that they trust me, and that was missing in my life. I think I’m an asset here, and I think that they think I’m an asset here, so it’s a good feeling to come into work knowing that you’re needed,” Pierce said. “Ever since I got this job, it’s made me think, maybe I can do something out there that’s productive, so I actually started school here at Chemeketa,” he said. “That one stepping stone made me think I could do more. And I should do more. So if I didn’t start here, I probably would have never done any of that.” A disconnect As a corrections counselor for the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice, it’s Steve Ciccotelli’s job to help former inmates find housing and employment upon release. He said that among Oregon’s forrher inmates, “some do get valuable skills, and some just do n o t” Often, he said, former inmates lack they did in prison - janitorial, cooking or working in manufacturing, construction or warehouses. “They’ll start disqualifying themselves before they even turned in an application. That’s the biggest barrier,” he said. “I tell them, don’t sell yourself short.” But he is able to help inmates released with a “binder full of certificates” to transfer those accomplishments onto a resume. Although, he said some of the jobs they worked in prison are dying industries on the outside. “They are not seeing the changes in the job market,” he said. “Where it becomes complicated is where you have a small industry and you have the criminal history barrier,” he said. “It really kind of shoots the person in the foot” He noted that in his experience, inmates serving long-term sentences are more likely to have accessed beneficial technical training and work during incarceration than inmates serving shorter sentences. For some inmates, getting that first job can be difficult, taking up to six months in some cases, which can mess with a former inmate’s self-esteem, Ciccotelli said. But there are employers willing to give convicts a second shot Todd Londin, owner of ABC Window Cleaners and Building Maintenance LLC, said he hires local workers with employment barriers, including former prison inmates with nonviolent convictions. He encourages them to find better-paying work once they have a few years of experience, he said. He said for his company, some of the janitorial skills taught in prisons, such as floor care, stripping and waxing, are beneficial, but he can teach the necessary Jan. 6-12, 2017 have six months’ clear conduct, and for some jobs, such as in the contact center, a GED is required. The PSU report recommended Oregon Corrections Enterprises engage with more high-risk inmates, optimize its businesses and marketing, and expand its programs. Jeske has outlined a strategic plan with many of these recommendations at the forefront, along with input from his staff, something he said wasn’t happening before he took over. “For the first time in a long time, they needed to feel like they were a valuable part of the organization and the administration cared about them,” he said. When asked if he thought doubling or tripling capacity in the next six years is attainable, he said, “I would like to tell you, yes, it’s attainable, but we struggle with ; displacement in the community. “At the end of the day, you still have to have a product or a service that is in need by the community.” But slowly, he’s adding jobs. He’s optimistic about a new transcription service at the state’s only women’s prison and a new website updating program that will bring state websites into American Disability Act compliance. This will add about 35 to 50 jobs. Additionally, inmates will soon be building homeless shelters. Oregon Corrections Enterprises came up with a design that ; Jeske said “doesn’t look like a tool shed; it has some character to it.” He’s worked with mobile home [ manufacturers in Oregon to ensure skills INMATE JOBS, from page 9 the only work th ey can g et m irrors the work Street Roots • will qualify them to work at a home manufacturing plant. He plans to survey inmates for input on new opportunities, and he’s working on a skills to anyone who is willing to work. program to build electric guitars under the Employees Retirement System) and other Prison Blues label, the same label used for “I have found that the majority of people things that keep raising our costs,” he said, the prison’s line of jeans. that I give a second Chance to work harder but today his agency has more inmates When Street Roots spoke with Jeske, he’d and last longer than people that come in off working in its programs than ever before just learned the Department of Corrections the street,” Londin said. “They prove they while it manages to operate in the black. want to be back in society, not be a drain on Street Roots was denied access to Oregon approved a contest where inmates could society,” submit designs for the instrument they Corrections would mass-produce. Enterprises’ most “To me, if it comes recent annual audit Under new management from the inmates, but was told it found wI rr e heard m illio n s @f Ken Jeske took the reins of Oregon that’s even better “zero significant stories a lo t of them dosft Corrections Enterprises in 2014 after its because the ownership deficiencies.” h a w aiach t@ be prond of previous director, Rob Killgore, was fired of that,” he said. “I’ve In 2013, Portland amid financial woes and conflicts with the State University heard millions of because they harmed th e ir Department of Corrections. completed a three- stories - a lot of them fam ilies or ether people« Jeske has worked in corrections for more phase strategic don’t have much to be S© whea they start having than two decades. He began as a assessment of Oregon proud of because they something that they are pr@wd harmed their families corrections officer and most recently Corrections ely that they ©an show th e ir oversaw Oregon Youth Authority. Enterprises and or other people. So He said when he took the job with OCE, made 13 fam ilies, It re a lly makes an when they start having “it was kind of in a crisis mode.” recommendations its im p a ct," something that they In the two years he’s been at the helm of authors believed are proud of, that they the agency, he’s boosted revenue by 24 would allow the f f l g i __ I ’ - r H W JESKE can show their families, ' O R E G O N C O R R EC TIO N S ENTERPRISES percent and moved it into the 21st century agency to expand its it really makes an with the addition of e-commerce and * programs and double impact.” electronic marketing, and he hired a new or triple its capacity While Oregon business development manager. by 2022. Corrections In 2015, OCE businesses brought in Enterprises is growing, most working The report pointed out that with an $25.6 million in revenue, a revenue record inmate workforce of 1,200 at the time of the inmates are assigned to Department of for the second year in a row. Corrections jobs in work programs overseen analysis, only 10 percent of the work-eligible But the agency isn’t rolling in dough. inmate population was assigned to Oregon by Angelozzi. Many of the manufacturing programs are Corrections Enterprises programs, and Whether it’s a janitor job or a kitchen job supported by profits from the call centers many were lower-risk inmates which led to or a maintenance crew job, it gives the and laundries, but Jeske said he wants to lower turnover. inmates skifis that they need,” she said. keep them operating because they help Part of this has to do with eligibility inmates gain useful skills. requirements. To work for Oregon Room for improvement “We keep getting hit with PERS (Public Corrections Enterprises, an inmate must While many of Oregon’s inmates work full A n Oregon State Penitentiary inmate in training in the prison's educational autoshop.
