By Nadia Ramlagan
April is National Second Chance Month but across West Virginia, resources to help people leaving prison find gainful employment are dwindling.
According to data from the Prison Policy Initiative, out of more than 50,000 people in 2010, 33% found no employment in the four years following release.
Patience Lewis-Walker, deputy executive director of the Center for Employment Opportunities, in the South Mountain Plains Region, said the benefits of employment programs far outweigh the costs.
“We are able to also change communities, change this intergenerational cycle of poverty and incarceration, and really make longer-term impacts across our nation,” Lewis-Walker explained.
The Mountain State releases around 37,000 men and nearly 13,000 women from its prisons and jails each year, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Nationwide, more than half million people are released from state and federal prison each year.
Walker added entry-level, on-the-job learning programs can stabilize families and grow the local workforce.
“As they’re matriculating through our program, they then begin to learn other skills and have more opportunities to really create more advancement and more of a career pathway,” Walker outlined.
Without housing, it is difficult for individuals to obtain employment. According to federal data, at least one-quarter of returning individuals leave jails and prisons without a stable living situation. Research showed people who were previously incarcerated are around 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general population.
