NCJ Number
179773
Journal
Corrections Today Magazine Volume: 61 Issue: 6 Dated: October 1999 Pages: 114-132
Date Published
1999
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Ohio's Offender Job Linkage Program was established in 1996 to enhance the employability of offenders and to link job-ready offenders with Ohio businesses.
Abstract
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) invites local business leaders to job fairs at Ohio prisons. Inmates who participate in the fairs must be within 45 days of release and also have to develop a current resume and take part in classroom training to develop interviewing skills. Staff from the Ohio Department of Human Services and the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services aid the DRC in preparing offenders for interviews. More than 1,964 inmates and approximately 80 employers have participated in 92 job fairs. About 26 percent of the participating inmates are offered employment following their release; another 73 percent are encouraged to report after their release for additional interviewing and consideration. DRC supports the job fairs with informational seminars to inform potential employers in major cities about the job-readiness programs available to Ohio inmates. In addition, actual job interviews were used to test the effectiveness of teleconferencing technology in September 1997; participants agreed that the technology serves as an effective prescreening tool. In addition, an Employer User Group has been developed to explore the many issues involved in hiring and working with ex-offenders. Several crucial advisory boards also support Ohio's job-readiness effort. Other programs that support the effort include the prison work programs, inmate educational programs, and the Offender Services Network. The Offender Job Linkage program and the services that support it are a major step in achieving DRC's goal of returning offenders to the community better off than they were when they entered the prison system. Photograph