A living-wage job is crucial to help ex-inmates thrive and keep them from winding up back in prison. Wisconsin prisons offer them the opportunity to work and get certified in a trade, and research shows these programs increase their chances of employment.
But critics say there aren’t enough prison vocational programs to go around and offenders don’t find enough support once released. Wisconsin DOC officials acknowledge program capacity is limited, but say ultimately success is dependent on the prisoners themselves.
“Programs have gotten better over the years,” said Dillard, who works with with ex-inmates today as the director of Ex-Prisoners Organizing. “(But) the demand outweighs the supply tremendously.”
Nationally, 90 percent of people who have been incarcerated struggle to find employment in the first year after release, said Jeremiah Mosteller, advocacy operations manager of Prison Fellowship, a Christian organization that advocates for rehabilitative, rather than punitive, justice.