ARIZONA PRISONS SHOULD SPEND MORE TO TRAIN INMATES FOR JOBS
In the past four decades, Arizona’s population has grown 148% while its prison population has increased more than 500%, leading to the nation’s fifth-highest incarceration rate.
Several factors have contributed to this massive increase, including the introduction of for-profit prisons and lengthier prison terms for nonviolent offenders.
Currently there are close to 34,000 people in Arizona’s prisons, 9 out of 10 of them male and nearly half between the age 25 and 30. A disproportionate number are people of color.
This mass incarceration apparatus costs taxpayers $1.5 billion each year and rising.
Arizona invests more in punishment than job-skills training.
This is a misuse of our tax dollars and a missed opportunity. If we invested more in rehabilitation, addiction treatment and job training, we could release more people after serving their sentences who are prepared to be an asset to our economy.
Formerly incarcerated individuals are often noted by employers as the most dedicated, hardworking and loyal employees they have. Given the right opportunities and support, these employees can thrive and become constructive members of the workforce and society.
Arizona’s inmates should be provided more access to addiction treatment, mentalhealth support and spiritual development, if desired, as well as the opportunity to learn a trade that pays a solid wage.
During the eight years of the past governor’s administration, private prisons expanded exponentially.
These businesses profit from keeping people locked up, not successfully helping them reenter our communities.
However, before Gov. Doug Ducey left office, he began to talk more about rehabilitation, and we are optimistic Gov. Katie Hobbs will take those words and turn them into action.
There are many ways the state can partner with private-sector employers to provide job training and placement, especially in skilled trades. Called “fair chance employment,” the movement to expand career opportunities for former inmates is gaining traction.
Organizations including Valley Leadership’s Workforce Development Impact Team are working to raise awareness and provide resources to employers who want to become Fair Chance Employers.
Early adopters of fair chance employment for formerly incarcerated individuals, including J.P. Morgan Chase, are reporting excellent returns on the benefits and investments.
This should be the norm, not the exception.
The Department of Corrections can play
an active role in helping to identify about-to-be released prisoners with the potential and interest in employment skills.
Efforts such as the Prison Entrepreneurship Program in Texas, which readies selected participants for the workforce with three months in-prison character development followed by a sixmonth “mini-MBA” program, point the way.
So, too, does Persevere, which operates in six states, including Arizona.
It provides a yearlong course for people in prison that teaches them how to code, along with life skills, and guarantees them jobs as software developers, web developers, software engineers and full stack developers.
Arizona’s 36.3% recidivism rate is one of the highest in the nation, largely because we release people out of the prison system without enough treatment, skills or support.
When will we understand we’re throwing money away by investing so much in imprisonment and so little in inmates’ future success?
Arizona employers are in dire need of qualified workers. What if we changed our view toward this population and focused our efforts on re-entry and opportunity?
Our state would benefit not only by reducing the costs of returning inmates but through the growth of skilled workers to drive our economy.
This can and should be our future. The time for reform is now.
Warren H. Stewart Sr. is senior pastor at First Institutional Baptist Church. Kimber Lanning is CEO of Local First Arizona. The two were honored as Man and Woman of the Year by Valley Leadership in 2021. Reach them at whstewartsr@fibcaz.org and kimber@localfirstaz.com.