The Labor Department will hand out $5 million in grants to fund job centers for people coming out of jails, part of a broader Obama administration initiative to help reduce recidivism, NPR has learned.
"The earlier you start investing in people who are incarcerated, the better the odds of a successful outcome," Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said in an interview.
The new batch of funding means that 41 such grant projects in 10 states have now won federal funding, known as Linking to Employment Activities Pre-release.
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This type of thinking drives me crazy! These 'poor' criminals had the same if not more opportunity to an education than most. It was their decision to not make the most of it.
ReplyDeleteThrowing more money will not work. Job training? For what type of jobs? You think a man who was slinging rock making big bucks all of a sudden wants to work as a custodian because it is an honest job? The administration is out of their minds.
7:48 & others to follow...
ReplyDeleteAmerica has a serious problem when it comes to people incarcerated that truly isn't addressed, recidivism.
I applaud Governor Hogan for taking this problem seriously. I have received numerous notices about upcoming meetings to address this serious problem, along with out Governor truly willing to LISTEN to what inmates and their Families go through. It goes a lot deeper than any of you will ever know.
That being said, if you talk to people who work in the system, they can tell you very quickly who will likely never return and or those who will be back in no time. If they offer this to everyone, (knowing some inmates couldn't care less) then I'd agree it is a total waste of time and money. However, what most of you do not understand is just how difficult it is on people who have served their time, paid their dues and truly want to be a positive roll in society, yet because of their "record" they can only find minimal pay in jobs. They can't afford rent, a car, insurance and in many cases find it next to impossible to pay for their urine test and or even find a way to their probation officer.
As ALL of you know, I'm no Liberal but the system is absolutely screwed up. I know probation officers that have 600 cases each. Under O'Malley and yes even Hogan, there's no funding to hire more officers to lighten their load.
We applaud our Judges, prosecutors and police officers for putting these criminals away, (and we should) but once these criminals are put into the system and they serve their time they are treated like dirt for the rest of their lives.
I have an old friend, (for example) who went into the Air Force. While in the Air Force he met a woman who convinced him they could rob a bank and easily get away with it. They robbed the bank and were caught very quickly. He was very stupid and he served his time. This was back around 1976. Today he is an incredible Father, Grandfather and very successful as a strong Christian. He's held the same job with a very big national company who gave him a chance and I have to admit, I'm very proud of him. However, HE WAS VERY LUCKY.
We'd ALL be wiser if we truly invested into people with criminal records, especially first offenders.
I'll share one other quick story. I know of a young man who was going to college. He held a job at a local fast food restaurant and desperately wanted to buy an inexpensive Jeep to get back and forth. This young man never did any drugs but turned to selling drugs in order to earn enough money to pay for the Jeep. He got caught and is now serving serious time in jail.
In today's society, not everyone has parents willing to front money for cars and or even college. I make no excuses for what this young man did but it seems to be a badge of honor for these prosecutors to get the maximum time for the less fortunate who can't afford a good attorney to represent them.
in my personal opinion, the system needs all the help it can get in so many different ways.
"This type of thinking drives me crazy! These 'poor' criminals had the same if not more opportunity to an education than most. It was their decision to not make the most of it."
ReplyDeleteYour statement is laughable. Perhaps you should spend a little time off the Shore for once in your life. Would love to see how you or your kids fair if they had to fight for their life just to walk to a school that is poorly equipped and serves as a convenient landing place for the teachers the school district couldn't fire.
829 I am certainly not from the shore, but this where I chose to live. Perhaps, you should explore the number of highly qualified teachers in the Maryland urban areas, it really is astounding. Your statement that poor areas are a dumping ground for bad teachers is just shameful. The per pupil spending rate lets say in Baltimore city is double than most Maryland counties. They have multiply layers of opportunity that the counties do not.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely refuse to take ownership of other peoples choices and strongly believe in personal responsibility. Bottom line, we all have opinions my happens to be to stop blaming the system for the poor choices that the incarcerated make.
In theory its a good thing. In reality...your just going to keep them busy pretending there are jobs available. Truth is the american dream is gone, destroyed by our government with their greed and corruption, with no hope , goals or dreams....this is why people turn to drugs and crime. Heck there arent even decent jobs for those that kept their noses clean nor college degrees. Most are working 2 part time jobs {remember obamacare?} The quality of enjoying life is slipping away for the majority...the rest are out of sink with reality. More expensive programs to spend money, typical liberal move. He nor his buddies have lifter a finger to improve this economy.
ReplyDeleteJust because they receive free training on tax payers dime does not mean they will just say "ok i'm going to work now."
ReplyDeleteThat assumption is absurd.
Ben Franklin once said "We are all born ignorant, but you have to work hard to remain stupid."
Total and complete waste of money. Won't ever work until we have more jobs. Why should any employer hire an ex con when there are a line of people without criminal records competing for the jobs. This is just another case of throwing good money away and Hogan pandering. Focus on job creation and that will only materialize if Mr Trump wins. Then things will fall into place naturally. Many low level jobs would open for ex cons and they can then gain work ethic and experience.
ReplyDeleteNow how this would work is if employers are given government incentive to hire ex cons and I hope this isn't what is going on.
8:29 your statement is absurd and if anyone needs to get out in the real world and see what is going on it is you. As already stated the titled schools where most of the criminals come out of have more money spent per student than any other in the country. This isn't including the private grants they receive because of their designations. FYI They are the first to get the latest and newest equipment and every single student who is not bused gets free busing if they don't have a safe route to walk so that throws your theory (and again proves your theory wrong and shows your cluelessness) out the window of having to fight for their life just to get to school.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to fight crime is to get rid of the Unconstitutional Statutory Laws.
ReplyDeleteWe need Common Law courts and common law enforcement.
The illegal government is preying on sovereign citizens!
Possession of plants or derivatives of plants is not a violation of common law. The outrageous enforcement of drug laws alone has led to an explosion of prison populations.
Learn the truth.
Educate yourselves.
Do the crime free education, room and board ebt cards, free helth care , i think im going to commit some crimes.
ReplyDelete