I Would Never....

September 11, 2016

By Rich Alvarez

      Part of my new job, well part of the job I have voluntarily undertaken in the last three years or so too, is to change hearts and minds on the topic of reentry.  I currently try to make partnerships with business leaders so that they will agree to hire graduates of our career development program.  If that seems like a steep task in a heavily politically conservative area of a heavily politically conservative state, you'd be right.  So how does one go about doing that anyway?

     I overcome objections like, "I've had a bad experience when I hired an ex-offender in the past," or "I'm just not willing to take the risk that they will steal from me," or "I'm not going to hire a criminal, it's just too risky."  These are real concerns, and I have to acknowledge the validity of them first.  I understand that there is a risk.  Furthermore, I understand that a business owner is in business to make money and not for charity.  These are relatively easy objections to overcome.  Once I explain how our program is voluntary and that our graduates have already demonstrated a will to change.  I also explain the career development process, the job coach position, and the life coach that is available to each client.  I also inform them of the federal bonding program and the WOTC.  I explain that our program cannot guarantee a 100% success rate, but it is very different from just hiring an ex-offender, or really anyone for that matter, off the street.  We take the human resources cost and responsibilities on for small companies that might not be able to do so, and we do everything possible to remove the risks associated with hiring our demographic.  In fact, I feel we provide that business with an employee that is ready to add value to their business immediately.  That's why our success rate is so high, and why the Governor trusts Ready4Work enough to fund us over other options.  This is usually enough, but not always.

     One of the hardest parts of my job is when someone still has reservations, because they view ex-offenders as a sub-class of the rest of society.  They are "criminals" and should be shunned, because they simply can't be trusted.  That's when I have to pull out the big guns.  First, I explain the problem of mass incarceration.  I explain that our country, that we all think of as "free", is in many ways, not that at all.  I explain that we incarcerate a higher percentage of our population than any other nation on earth, including China and Russia.  That usually blows people away, because its simply not something that's even in the stream of consciousness of the average American, unless they've had a personal experience.  I also explain the immense costs to the tax payers of incarceration and recidivism.  On average in Florida, it costs about $18000 per year per inmate to jail them in the state prison system.  This does not include local and county jails.  Based on these numbers alone, the cost to the state is in the billions of dollars, and the cost to Hillsborough County is about $600-800 million per year.  That money comes from our taxpaying pockets, including business owners.  The problem with that number is that it really doesn't cover the true cost of crime does it?  It doesn't cover the cost of police officers needed to investigate and arrest  criminals, or prosecutors, or judges, or public defenders.  It doesn't cover the costs to victims in terms of property loss or damage, medical bills, and psychological trauma. It also doesn't cover the cost of lost productivity of the criminal, had he actually been gainfully employed instead, or the cost of supporting his family that relied on him for income.  It can't possibly measure the cost to his or her children who must now live without a parent in their lives and all the psychological baggage, including the increased likelihood that the child will follow in the parent's footsteps.  The true cost is really incalculable, isn't it? 

     I often relate my experience as a former police officer and state corrections officer in Ohio.  I explain that I often saw the same people coming back to jail time after time.  When I would ask them why they kept re-offending, they would often explain that they could not get a job, housing, or medical and mental healthcare.  They told me if they went back to prison, at least they would get "Three hots and a cot."  It was better than the alternative of living in squalor and homelessness on the streets.  That struck me as profound.  I then ask the potential employer, what is someone to do if they can't find employment with a living wage, or a home, or the ability to better themselves through education?  What are they to do if they can't get their mental health or substance abuse issues properly addressed?  These the main reasons criminals go back to a life of crime.  I tell them that the way I was brought up was that if I made a mistake, I was told to own up to it, take my punishment, learn from it, and move on.  I find that most people believe that to be the case in our criminal justice system as well.  I then explain that the formerly incarcerated are often not given the opportunity to move on.  They continue to be punished through job and housing discrimination, and are never given the opportunity to become working, taxpaying, law abiding citizens again.  In fact, in some states, like Florida, they are stripped of their right to even the most basic  American right to participate in society, the right to vote.  They are, in effect, put into a caste system that is almost impossible to escape, unless someone gives them a helping hand.  At this point, most people are shocked that this is the reality of America today, and they agree to give someone a helping hand by hiring our graduates.

     Every once in a while, someone's heart is still not convinced to do the right thing.  That's when I try to put them in the shoes of someone they might be able to relate to.  I tell them that the only real difference between many ex-offenders and the rest of society is that most people just aren't caught.  That's when I get a horrified look and the inevitable statement, "I would never....".  It's hard to repress my smile as I ask them if they always made great choices, even as a young person or teenager, or were there some things that, had they been caught, they might have gotten themselves into legal trouble?  I ask them to envision this scenario.  "Imagine you have just gotten off of work and are to meet some co-workers for a couple of drinks to celebrate a big deal that just closed.  You are the man of the hour, and someone talks you into a third drink, over the two drink limit you set when you are driving.  You suddenly get a call from your wife that your child needs to go to the doctor and she needs you home now.  You don't feel intoxicated at all, because you just consumed your third drink, but you order a cup of coffee to go, just to be on the safe side.  You get behind the wheel of the car and start to drive home.  As you are approaching an intersection, you hit a bump and the coffee spills in your lap.  You look down and try to wipe the steaming coffee from your lap.

     When you look back up, the light has changed and an elderly woman is crossing the intersection in a walkway.  She's right in front of you, and you jam the brakes in a panic, but its too late.  You mow down the elderly woman to your horror.  You get out and try to help, but there is clearly nothing you can do, and she expires at the scene.  The police show up on the scene, and they smell alcohol on your breath.  You are distraught and don't do well on the tests, so they arrest you for DUI and Vehicular Homicide.  As if the evening could not get any worse, the officer tells you that the woman is the Mayor's mother, and the media is on scene.  They film the police taking you away in cuffs.

     Your wife is so angry at you that you were out drinking instead of being home for your sick child, she refuses to bail you out of jail.  Your work sees the story on the news, and reporters have shown up at your job.  They simply can't afford to be associated with this kind of negative publicity, so they let you go unceremoniously.  Now you have little money in savings for an attorney, because that money is needed to support your family and pay their bills, so you must rely on a public defender who is overworked and underpaid.  You try to convince them how important you are and how it must be a mistake, because you weren't impaired at all.  In fact, you were trying to be responsible by drinking coffee to remain alert so you could help your daughter.  If it hadn't been for that darn bump, none of this would have happened.  The public defender is unimpressed and advises you to take a plea.  You are offered five years in prison instead of fifteen years if you are convicted at trial.  Realizing that you have little chance to win at trial given your lack of resources and your representation, you reluctantly agree.  Now you are a felon headed to prison.  Do you see how one very small error in judgement can lead to consequences you could never have foreseen?  Don't drink?  O.K., you took a couple of Ambien for your insomnia and the wife tells you that she absolutely has to have something from the store and she's too sick to go out.  The result is the same."

     My point is this, we all make poor choices from time to time that can have disastrous consequences if the circumstances align against you.  There are countless examples of these things happening to otherwise law abiding citizens, and their lives changed overnight for the worse.  They often then cannot escape the cycle of poverty and criminal activity that leads to recidivism unless someone steps in to help them. People don't start off as bad.  They are often turned bad due to the circumstances in their lives, and we must learn to place ourselves in the shoes of others.  No one can say what they would do if faced with the same circumstances of someone who committed a crime.  We often like to view ourselves in the most positive light compared to others in order to make ourselves feel better, but if we are honest with ourselves, we have all made some terrible choices in life.  That was also the point of last week's suggested reading.   There are so many laws on the books now, especially at the federal level, that it is estimated that we all commit approximately three felonies and day without even realizing it.  It's just that no one is watching and we have not been caught.  We can not possibly know everything a criminal may have been through in life or how well equipped they were to make the right decisions.  I don't want you to get me wrong, I'm in no way suggesting that criminals should not be caught and punished for the crimes they commit.  They absolutely should, but once they pay the price assigned by the court, they should also be afforded the opportunity to learn from their mistake and move on.  They should be allowed the opportunity to become productive, tax paying, voting citizens again.  

     So, the next time you think, " I would never..." when you hear about a crime, take the time to try to put yourselves in that person's shoes to try to figure out how they arrived at that point.  It's ok to feel anger at them for hurting other people or taking their property.  That's normal, but at the same time, we should think about what's going to be happen when they get out?  What are you going to do to help make sure they don't do back by committing another crime?  Can you be a mentor?  Can you give them a job opportunity?  Can you vote for measures that eliminate collateral sanctions and remove the barriers to becoming a productive citizen again?  After all, isn't that the whole point of the Department of Corrections, to correct bad behavior?  We all have a responsibility as taxpayers, Christians especially so, to do everything in our power to eliminate the cost to taxpayers, victims, and the former criminal themselves.  What will you do to help?