Jobs for Ex-Offenders: Staying out of The Game

In Season Two viewers of The Wire are introduced to Cutty, a Barksdale solider who has recently been paroled after 14 years in jail. Avon gives him contact information to slip back into his life on the corner.   However, time in jail and getting cheated out of the money on his first package cause Cutty to try and make it straight working as a manual laborer.  He discusses his situation indirectly with his supervisor, who is the only other person in the landscaping crew who is not Hispanic. Discussing how the labor is a good deal of work with a limited pay off juxtaposed with seeing the comfortable, nice car of drug dealers is too much for him.  Cutty quickly falls back into the game and the 4^th episode closes with him disappearing into a party, absorbed by the strobe lights and the temptations of drug dealing.  In a scene right before his release, Cutty is initially hesitant to take information for a job from Avon. This shows the internal struggle between keeping straight and falling into old patterns, which began for Cutty while he was still in jail.

This is a common struggle for ex-convicts. Numbers for recidivism are high, especially for African American Males. For African America males, 74% are arrested for another crime within 3 years of being released, a quarter within six months.Within three years, about a third are back in prisons.  (Bureau of Justice Statistics)  These numbers indicate that many of those who leave the prison system are unable to break the cycle of illegal behavior, likely out of necessity.

This necessity rises from the uphill battle that is obtaining a job with a criminal record.  A study of prisoners  by the Urban Institute indicated that eight months after imprisonment, only 65% of those released had found employment at any point, and only 45% were currently employed at the time of the study.  The study indicates the difficulty of revealing a criminal past to an employer. The study also indicated “the most successful strategy for long-term employment was returning to a previous employer.” (Urban Institute) When the previous employer is in an illegal industry, such as Cutty, this can provide another barrier to living a clean life.  Cutty, and those in similar situations do not have that resource to fall back on. In the study, the income source of 35% of those released was illegal activity, and the number was greater eight months out of prison then after two. This shows the commonality of the weakening of resolve seen in a less gradual time frame for Cutty.

There are  a limited number of  low-skill positions in the work force to begin with. (see previous post) However, those with criminal records face even more of a difficulty finding employment. Part of the issue lies with the unwillingness of employers to hire ex-offenders and the lack of job seeking skills.  Different governmental organizations, including the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Correctional Education (OCE) have worked together to create work-training programs to better offer ex-offenders the skills for the workforce.  (Dept Justice)  Different programs, like the CEO (Center for Employment Opportunity) program in New York, outlined in a program spotlight here, provide temporary work placement and interview and job skill training.

Another way to try to aid the work placement issues for those who have served time is the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Program (WOTC) program.  This program incentivizes the hiring of different types of socially disadvantaged people, including those receiving certain types of public benefit and ex-felons.  Employers who hire qualifying workers receive a credit of “25% of qualified first-year wages for those employed at least 120 hours but fewer than 400 hours and 40% for those employed 400 hours or more.” Programs like this and CEO can be the support that people like Cutty need to stay out of the game. In spite of this, the recidivism numbers show that often, the temptation and necessity is too great. Additionally, it may be difficult to find information about the programs that are available.

 

Cutty disappears back into the world of drugs. Image Courtesy HBO's The Wire