u.s. department of justice national institute of ... · offender job training, placement, and...

U.S. Department of JusticeNational Institute of Corrections

320 First Street N.W.Washington, DC 20534

National Institute of CorrectionsWorld Wide Web Site

http://www.nicic.org

John E. Moore, AdministratorOffice of Correctional Job Training and Placement

August 2001

This report covers activities undertaken by the Office of CorrectionalJob Training and Placement during fiscal year 2000.

The Office of Correctional Job Training and Placement is a component of the National Institute ofCorrections, Federal Bureau of Prisons.

U.S. Department of JusticeFederal Bureau of Prisons

National Institute of Corrections320 First Street, NW.

Washington, DC 20534

John AshcroftAttorney General

U.S. Department of Justice

Kathleen Hawk SawyerDirector

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Morris L. ThigpenDirector

National Institute of Corrections

John E. MooreAdministrator

Office of Correctional Job Training and Placement

Fiscal Year 2000 III

Annual Report to CongressO

CJTP

ForewordThe latest available figures indicate that more than500,000 offenders were released from state and fed-eral prisons and returned to the community in 1999.These offenders generally require substantial assis-tance, in both finding jobs and keeping them. Pro-viding such assistance is in the public interest, sinceresearch indicates that unemployment is a key pre-dictor of initial criminality and a primary componentof recidivism.

Entering the labor market can be a confusing, andsometimes overwhelming, experience for offenders,as global competition, changing technology andbusiness practices, and shifts in the demands forgoods and services continue to reshape America’sjob market. Advancements in computer technologycontribute to the perplexing problem of accessinglabor market information. Offenders need to havethis information to make informed decisions aboutjobs, licensing or bonding requirements, workingconditions, and educational and training require-ments and opportunities.

Bold new steps must be taken to ensure that offend-ers are adequately prepared to compete in today’sjob market. We should use the time offenders spendin prison to address their employability needs byproviding them with more training and work oppor-tunities while incarcerated. We must also commit tocreating correctional systems that make workforcedevelopment issues an integral part of every offend-er’s experiences from before trial to after release.Workforce development should be the “glue” thatholds the various roles and functions of the correc-tional system together. As offenders make the transi-tion from prison to the community, they should haveaccess to a network of agencies and needs-basedservices, including substance abuse treatment, trans-portation, and childcare. These are just a few of theissues that affect their job stability and retention.

We must assist offenders in entering the world ofwork by helping them match their abilities, aptitudes,and interests to potential career paths. We must cre-ate partnerships to develop a seamless web of offen-der accountability, supervision, and support. Thismay include a system that begins, in many instances,before incarceration and continues after the offenderleaves prison and reenters the community. Throughthese efforts, we can support offenders by broaden-ing their horizons, helping them discover theirstrengths and talents, and teaching them how tomake informed decisions about jobs and careerchoices.

The Office of Correctional Job Training and Place-ment (OCJTP), established in 1995 as a result of the1994 Violent Crime Control and Law EnforcementAct, has become a primary source of information,training, and technical assistance to federal, state,and local government agencies and nonprofit organi-zations in their efforts to plan, develop, and improveoffender job training, placement, and retention serv-ices. Training seminars and workshops developedand sponsored by this Office have become some ofthe most sought-after training opportunities in thehistory of the National Institute of Corrections. Theoverwhelming demands that have arisen from thenational movement to provide job training and place-ment services for unemployed and underemployedpeople, including offenders, have exceeded the limit-ed funding available through the Institute. This hasresulted in lost opportunities for the field of correc-tions to capitalize on a movement that is high on thenational agenda and supported by the field of correc-tions and the general public.

OCJTP’s Annual Report to Congress for fiscal year2000 highlights the accomplishments of this Officeand the status of correctional job training and place-ment across the nation. To achieve its mission of


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enhancing offenders’ ability to enter and remain inthe labor market, OCJTP has focused its limitedresources on developing and providing competency-based training programs to offender employmentservice providers who can help offenders makeinformed career decisions. This will reduce recidi-vism, the cycle of poverty, and the expectation of

failure and lack of empowerment among offenders.Attacking these problems and devising creative solu-tions to these issues will ultimately lead to saferstreets and communities for us all.

John E. MooreAdministrator

Office of Correctional Job Training and Placement

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ContentsForeword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Activities and Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Office Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Interagency Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Public Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

National Telecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Information Exchange Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Cooperative Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Technical Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Clearinghouse/Information Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

News Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Purchase of Copyright Release Privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Status of Correctional Job Training and Placement Programs in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Appendix: Evaluation of Training Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Academy-Based Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Distance Learning Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Partnership Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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As mandated in its enabling legislation, the NationalInstitute of Corrections’ Office of Correctional JobTraining and Placement hereby submits its annualreport to Congress on its activities during fiscal year(FY) 2000 (October 1, 1999, through September 30,2000).

BackgroundThe Violent Crime Control and Law EnforcementAct of 1994 directed the U.S. Attorney General toestablish an Office of Correctional Job Training andPlacement (OCJTP) within the U.S. Department ofJustice (DOJ). OCJTP was created as a vehicle toencourage, support, and advance job training andjob placement programs that provide services tooffenders and ex-offenders.

OCJTP was established in March 1995 within theNational Institute of Corrections (NIC), an organizationwhose primary purpose is to assist state and localcorrections agencies by providing technical assis-tance, training, and information services. NIC’s

service delivery system provides the necessary orga-nizational support and field contacts to carry out thefunctions of OCJTP.

As defined by its enabling legislation (P.L. 103–322),OCJTP’s functions include:

■ Coordinating efforts of the U.S. Department ofLabor (DOL), DOJ, and other federal agenciesin the areas of correctional job training and placement.

■ Providing training to develop staff competen-cies needed by state and local agencies to assistoffenders and ex-offenders in gaining marketableoccupational skills and job placement.

■ Providing technical assistance related to thedevelopment of offender employability to stateand local training and employment agencies.

■ Collecting and disseminating information aboutoffender job training and placement programs,accomplishments, and employment outcomes.

Introduction

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Activities and Accomplishments

Office CoordinationSince its inception, many federal, state, and localagencies have come to depend on OCJTP for itsleadership, support, and coordination of governmentand private efforts to provide job training and place-ment for offenders and ex-offenders. NIC continuesto explore options to increase its resources to meetthe need for services.

From August 2000 through August 2001, OCJTP isbeing assisted by a full-time student trainee fromNiagara University’s Graduate Program in CriminalJustice Administration and Management. This studenttrainee program offers graduate students experiencein working at the national level on initiatives that sup-port offender job training and placement programs.

Interagency CoordinationIn FY 2000, OCJTP worked actively to coordinateactivities with other concerned agencies, as des-cribed below.

Meeting with DOL’s Welfare-to-Work Program.The purpose of this December 1999 meeting, hostedby DOL’s Welfare-to-Work Program and attended byrepresentatives of DOJ’s Office of Justice Programsand the OCJTP Administrator, was to develop aworking relationship among the three agencies. Themeeting centered on the agencies’ initiatives and abrief discussion of their mutual interest in jointlysponsoring initiatives that may affect the dependenceof offenders and their families on public assistance,including efforts to work with noncustodial parents(including offenders) to encourage responsiblefatherhood and increase noncustodial fathers’ finan-cial and emotional involvement with their children.

Meeting with National Youth Employment Coali-tion. This December 1999 meeting, hosted by NIC’s

Division of Community Services and OCJTP at therequest of the deputy director of the National YouthEmployment Coalition (NYEC), was held at NIC’scentral office in Washington, D.C. NYEC is a net-work of more than 120 youth employment and devel-opment organizations dedicated to promoting policiesand programs that help youths become lifelong learn-ers, productive workers, and self-sufficient citizens.The purpose of the meeting was to share informa-tion with NYEC on NIC technical assistance andtraining programs for offender job training andplacement service providers. NIC and NYEC havea mutual interest in improving job training andplacement service programs for young offenders.By capitalizing on the offender employment special-ist (OES) and offender workforce development spe-cialist training programs developed by OCJTP andtaught through NIC’s Training Academy, NYECmay be able to develop programs tailored to meetthe employment needs of youthful offenders. Thedeputy director was encouraged to follow up withNIC’s technical assistance coordinator, NIC’sTraining Academy, and DOJ’s Office of JuvenileJustice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to deter-mine whether training could be made availablethrough an interagency agreement with OJJDP.

Meeting with the Department of Veterans Affairs(VA), National Office of Psychosocial Rehabili-tation, and the National Association of Work-force Development Professionals. The OCJTPAdministrator organized an introductory meeting inJanuary 2000 with the administrators of the VA’sNational Office of Psychosocial Rehabilitation andthe National Association of Workforce DevelopmentProfessionals (NAWDP) to collaborate on ways toshare information with workforce development serviceproviders nationwide on services provided to veteransthrough the VA’s psychosocial rehabilitation pro-grams. As a result of this meeting, it was agreed that

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Meeting with the U.S. Department of Labor,Employment and Training Administration,Division of Research and Demonstration. Thismeeting in March 2000 between the OCJTP Admin-istrator and the chief of the Research and Demonstra-tion Division of DOL’s Employment and TrainingAdministration was held to discuss the ongoingresearch efforts of DOL and the U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services (DHHS) in the area ofjob retention and NIC’s interest in studying offenderjob retention factors and predictive instruments to beused in targeting those offenders most in need of spe-cialized workforce development services. The chiefof the Research and Demonstration Division hasagreed to provide assistance to an NIC workgroupon offender job retention and to provide insight intothe research efforts of the DOL and DHHS and theirapplicability to the offender population. This initialmeeting may lead to collaboration on joint researchefforts between DOL and DOJ’s National Instituteof Corrections and National Institute of Justice.

Meeting sponsored by DOJ’s Office of JusticePrograms. This meeting, sponsored by the Officeof Justice Programs (OJP) and held in April 2000,included representatives from nine jurisdictions par-ticipating in a Reentry Courts Initiative. This initia-tive, shaped by the successful drug court model usedthroughout the country, looks to the court to applysanctions and incentives to increase the likelihoodthat ex-offenders will become law-abiding, contribu-ting members of their communities. The focus is onincreasing public safety through more effective mon-itoring and coordinated services. OJP is committedto supporting this initiative through a combination ofcluster conferences, information resources, and tech-nical assistance. The OCJTP Administrator providedparticipants with information about the Office andthe availability of technical assistance to supporttheir efforts.

the VA could submit articles describing these servicesto NAWDP’s newsletter and set up booths and makepresentations at NAWDP’s national conferences.

Meeting with DOL’s Welfare-to-Work Program.A second meeting, hosted by DOL’s Welfare-to-WorkProgram and attended by representatives of the Officeof the Attorney General, the Federal Bureau of Prisons’(BOP’s) Inmate Placement Program Branch, and theOCJTP Administrator, was held in February 2000for the purpose of collaborating on initiatives toreintegrate offenders, who face significant barriersto job placement and sustained employment, intosociety. Several proposals were discussed, but theattendees were particularly interested in identifyingfour to eight jurisdictions where it could coordinatea concentrated effort at providing technical assis-tance and training while documenting the processand outcome for successful replication in other juris-dictions. Additional meetings are being scheduled todiscuss this and other initiatives both departmentswish to pursue.

Meeting with BOP’s Inmate Placement ProgramBranch. A meeting was held in March 2000 betweenthe OCJTP Administrator and staff of the InmatePlacement Program Branch to provide an overviewof each office’s activities and coordinate services asneeded. As a result of the meeting, BOP employeesproviding job training and placement services tooffenders will be included in the NIC-sponsoredOffender Employment Specialist Distance LearningTraining Program. In addition, OCJTP offered totrain a five-person BOP team on the Offender Work-force Development Specialist/Facilitator TrainingProgram being developed by NIC. This training pro-gram is a 3-week intensive train-the-trainer curricu-lum for workforce development specialists that willlead to certification. The Inmate Placement ProgramBranch has also agreed to be a referral source forOCJTP in assisting offenders, ex-offenders, and theirfamilies seeking job counseling services.

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Meeting with the director of graduate education-al programs in counseling at Loyola College ofMaryland, the executive director of the CareerDevelopment Leadership Alliance, and a work-force and career development consultant withRutgers University’s John J. Heldrich Center forWorkforce Development. This meeting was heldin April 2000 to discuss the latest advances in theparaprofessional Career Development Facilitator(CDF) training curriculum originally developed in 1995 by the National Career DevelopmentAssociation, the Career Development TrainingInstitute at Oakland University, and its sponsor, theNational Occupational Information CoordinatingCommittee. OCJTP is currently developing a newcurriculum and instructor training program basedon a newly revised CDF curriculum.

Meeting of BOP’s Correctional Education andTraining Discussion Group. The purpose of thisgroup is to share information that will advanceBOP’s provision of offender education and training.This meeting, held in April 2000, centered on theReading Is Fundamental initiative, which, in addi-tion to providing literacy programs for offenders,donates books to correctional systems for offenders’children and promotes inmates’ involvement in theeducation of their children through parent-childreading programs. Strategies are being explored topromote this program more aggressively in federal,state, and local prison systems. The group also dis-cussed the need for research (possibly funded by afoundation) that would increase understanding ofpublic attitudes toward the provision of correctionaleducation. The assistant director of BOP’s Divisionof Industries, Education, and Vocational Trainingannounced an effort to have UNICOR (FederalPrison Industries, Inc.) refurbish used computers. Asa followup to this meeting, the OCJTP Administratorand the assistant director of BOP’s Division ofIndustries, Education, and Vocational Trainingagreed to work out arrangements in which organiza-tions that employ offender workforce developmentspecialist/trainers who have successfully completed

NIC training would receive refurbished computers onan as-needed basis, to be dedicated to use withoffenders in the area of workforce development.

Meeting with DOL’s Welfare-to-Work Program.This meeting, hosted by DOL’s Welfare-to-WorkProgram in August 2000 and attended by representa-tives from numerous organizations, was held toplan a National Welfare-to-Work Conference calledWelfare-To-Work Beyond 2000: Building The Futurethat was held October 17–19, 2000, in Phoenix,Arizona. OCJTP offered to conduct a training pro-gram at the conference that would address offender-related issues for service providers who need to knowhow to work with clients who have criminal records.

Meeting with the National Career DevelopmentAssociation. A meeting was held in August 2000with the National Career Development Association(NCDA), a nonprofit organization of approximately10,000 national and state career development profes-sionals. The organization provides career develop-ment facilitator (CDF) training for CDF instructorsand maintains a registry of CDF instructors. NCDA,which publishes the Facilitating Career Develop-ment (2000) curriculum, has given NIC permissionto modify this curriculum for training offenderworkforce development specialists. This meetingwas held to discuss NCDA’s capability and interestin providing training to offender workforce develop-ment specialists under a cooperative agreement withNIC using a NCDA curriculum tailored by NIC tomeet the needs of corrections.

Public PresentationsInternational Community Corrections Association(ICCA). In January 2000, the OCJTP Administratorspoke about offender job training and placementfrom a national perspective and the services provid-ed by OCJTP at ICCA’s sixth annual Washington,D.C., Advocacy Forum. ICCA is a professionalorganization dedicated to improving communitycorrections programs, whose membership consists

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primarily of halfway house administrators andother correctional leaders.

Correctional Education Association LeadershipConference. In March 2000, the OCJTP Administra-tor spoke about offender job training and placementfrom a national perspective at a workshop called TheProfessionalization of Offender Job Training andPlacement Services, held at the Correctional EducationLeadership Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Theadministrator described OCJTP training initiativesto increase the skill level of OESs and future plansto develop an intensive, 3-week, competency-basedtraining for offender workforce development spe-cialists that will lead to certification and possiblecollege credit. Approximately 30 people attendedthe workshop.

National Committee on Community Corrections.In May 2000, speaking before members of the NationalCommittee on Community Corrections, the OCJTPAdministrator described the Office’s activities tosupport the development and improvement ofoffender job training and placement programs, pro-vide technical assistance and training to such pro-grams, disseminate information on such programs,and coordinate and collaborate with other federalagencies involved in such efforts. The administratordiscussed OCJTP activities that support the profes-sionalization of those working directly to provide theoffender population with job counseling, training,placement, development, and retention services.

NAWDP 11th Annual Conference. In May 2000,as a member of a panel called Washington Update,the OCJTP Administrator spoke about current legis-lation affecting workforce development—includingPublic Law 103–322, which established OCJTP toencourage and support offender job training andplacement programs—and information cited by theLegal Action Center on employment, public assis-tance, and housing laws affecting individuals withcriminal convictions. Approximately 200 peopleattended this general session.

Minnesota Department of Corrections, Correc-tions Education. In June 2000, the OCJTP Admin-istrator met with a team headed by Minnesota’sDirector of Correctional Education to discuss thesupport services available to Minnesota in its devel-opment and improvement of offender job trainingand placement programs. The director of correction-al education will follow up with a request for techni-cal assistance from NIC to support Minnesota’sefforts to improve the delivery of job training andplacement services.

National TelecastU.S. Department of Justice, Office of the AttorneyGeneral. In August 2000, the Attorney General, atNIC’s request, provided a taped statement that pro-vided the lead into a national-level training programfor offender reintegration service providers. Theinitial distance learning training program forOESs was provided on September 25–28, 2000,and focused on reintegration and transition issues;offender assessment and programming; pre-employ-ment and job readiness skills; and job development,placement, and retention strategies.

Information ExchangeActivitiesState of Maryland, Department of Budget andManagement, Council on Management and Pro-ductivity. In November 1999, a followup meetingwas held with members of Maryland’s Departmentof Budget and Management, Council on Manage-ment and Productivity, to discuss plans and strate-gies to enable more inmates to gain productiveemployment on release from the Maryland prisonsystem. The Public Safety and Correctional ServicesProject: Inmate Post-Release Opportunities, chairedby Judge John F. Fader, is gathering information onnational models suited to Maryland, identifying cur-rent operating or pilot programs in Maryland thatcontribute to improved employability of inmates

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Cooperative AgreementsOffender Job Retention Project. In January 2000,NIC entered into a cooperative agreement with atechnical resource provider, Ms. Melissa C. Houston,LMSW, to direct the activities of the Offender Work-force Development and Job Retention Project, whichis designed to support alternatives to incarcerationby developing the capacity of offender service pro-viders nationwide to implement initiatives that leadto an increase in offenders’ job retention. Studieshave shown that unemployment is a major predictorof initial criminality and a major contributor to recidi-vism. By conducting studies, developing curriculums,and providing training opportunities, information serv-ices, and technical assistance, this project endeavorsto provide support to those who assist offenders inobtaining gainful employment, including job stabili-ty and job retention. This multiyear funding initiativewill result in plans, strategies, and interventions atthe national level to meet program needs for offenderjob retention initiatives. During the first 12 monthsof the project period, project staff—

■ Provided training on offender employment andretention issues to 126 OESs from across thenation.

■ Conducted two indepth focus groups of profes-sionals on retention and relapse signs and twooffender-only focus groups for national surveydevelopment.

■ Presented an 8-hour training workshop in RhodeIsland and a 4-hour training workshop inMaryland.

■ Trained 1,200 practitioners via distance learningin offender job retention issues, research, andstrategies to improve retention.

■ Administered 2,000 surveys to the field on jobpreparation, loss, and retention.

upon release, and exploring efforts with the privatesector to provide job opportunities for offenders.Followup meetings have been held between councilmembers and the OCJTP Administrator for addition-al assistance at the federal level.

General Accounting Office (GAO) study on rein-tegration. In May 2000, the OCJTP Administratorparticipated in a meeting organized by DOJ for GAOon a study of offender reintegration needs and pro-grams initiated by GAO and directed at state andfederal correctional systems. GAO—whose interestin this area is driven primarily by the trends and pro-jections for the number of prisoners to be releasedfrom federal and state prisons, characteristics of thepopulation, reintegration programs, and recidivismstudies—is studying the availability of offender rein-tegration programs, their content, and the systemsimplemented to measure their performance.

BOP-sponsored Correctional Education andTraining Discussion Group Meeting. In June 2000,the OCJTP Administrator met with the assistantdirector of BOP, the director of its education program,and other invited guests to discuss the advancementof correctional education and training. Researchefforts to understand public reluctance to improvecorrectional education and training were also dis-cussed, as were proposals to provide Reading IsFundamental resources and services to correctionssystems as part of enhanced literacy efforts.

State of Maryland, Department of Education,Correctional Education Division. In July 2000,the OCJTP Administrator met with staff of theCorrectional Education Division of the MarylandDepartment of Education to determine their percep-tion of the need for and knowledge of employabilityassessment instruments, job retention strategies, andcareer facilitator training. This provided an opportu-nity to gain additional input from the field on initia-tives proposed by OCJTP to improve offender jobtraining and placement services nationally.

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■ Developed a working definition of job retentionbased on focus groups, survey responses, andfeedback from practitioners and administrators.

■ Created and facilitated the meetings of a five-member advisory group of national experts onoffender employment, research, and criminal justice.

■ Initiated a dialog and potential partnership withCanada on assessment, offender employment, andjob retention efforts.

The Offender Workforce Development and JobRetention Project anticipates that the next 12 monthswill result in the creation and piloting of a 5-daydistance learning curriculum devoted exclusively tooffender job retention, improvement of the offenderworkforce development specialist training programthrough the addition of a new and expanded jobretention module, and implementation of promisingjob retention strategies at a pilot location, possiblyto include the delivery of a job retention curriculumdirectly to offenders via distance learning.

Offender Workforce Development Specialist/Career Development Facilitator CurriculumDevelopment Project. In June 2000, NIC enteredinto a cooperative agreement with the Career Devel-opment Leadership Alliance, Inc. (CDLA) to assistOCJTP in developing a customized competency-based, train-the-trainer program and curriculum thatwould include 108 hours of classroom instructionplus specifications and materials for practical activi-ties upon trainees’ return to their jurisdiction. CDLAwill design a curriculum to meet the specific needsof offender workforce development specialists, in-cluding labor market analysis, employment needsassessments, job counseling, job search and place-ment strategies, and job retention strategies. A pilotfor this new curriculum is projected to take place inFebruary, March, and April of 2001.

Technical Assistance Onsite technical assistance. Through NIC’s techni-cal assistance program, the Community CorrectionsDivision provided a 2-day onsite consultation inOhio at the request of the Community Connectionfor Ohio Offenders, Inc., which provides postreleaseservices under contract with the Ohio Departmentof Rehabilitation and Corrections. Through the PostRelease Center, 6 full-time staff members serveapproximately 300 offenders each month. The assis-tance provided the Center with new strategies for thereintegration of offenders into society, particularly inthe areas of job retention and career development.

NIC’s Prisons Division provided onsite offender jobtraining and placement technical assistance to theOregon Department of Corrections, identified as apilot site for implementing an inmate work programto develop a statewide resource directory. This pro-gram was modeled after an industry program devel-oped for Washington State Corrections Industriesby the Washington State Corrections Clearinghouse.This self-directed, interactive software program,which states can replicate with a limited amount oftechnical assistance through NIC, was supportedthrough a cooperative agreement with the Wash-ington State Corrections Clearinghouse and OCJTP.

Workshops through technical assistance. NIC’sCommunity Corrections Division provided twoworkshops on offender job training and placementthrough the technical assistance program.

■ A 1-day workshop was held in Virginia at therequest of Opportunities, Alternatives and Re-sources of Fairfax County, Inc. (OAR), for itsNational Staff Training Conference, with empha-sis on upgrading the knowledge and skills of anexpected 100 attendees in job development andemployment issues.

■ A 2-day offender job training and placement work-shop was conducted in Rhode Island at the requestof the International Community Corrections

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Association for its regional conference and train-ing program. Most of the 27 participants, whoincluded 6 job developers, 4 placement coun-selors, 4 job readiness counselors, 10 administra-tors, 2 probation or parole officers, and 1 lifeskills teacher, had 5 or more years of experiencein the field of offender employment. The ninetraining topics counted as continuing educationunits for the trainees.

Training Approximately 1,300 OESs were trained in academy-based, distance learning, and partnership trainingprograms in FY 2000. Those attending came fromBOP, Federal Probation, county jails and sheriff’sdepartments, state departments of labor, state proba-tion and parole departments, state prison systems andprison industry programs, county prisons, regionalprisons and detention facilities, city and county pro-bation departments, state departments of vocationalrehabilitation, state departments of education (includ-ing community colleges), and private for-profit andnonprofit agencies and organizations.

OES Academy based training. NIC conductedthree OES training programs in FY 2000 at its acad-emy in Longmont, Colorado. Each program wasprimarily conducted for two-person teams from thesame jurisdiction who represent public correctionsand either another government agency or the privatesector and who work together cooperatively, contrac-tually, or statutorily in providing offenders with jobskills training and placement services. For evalua-tions of these training programs, see the appendix.

OES distance learning. In September 2000, OCJTPpresented a 32-hour live, interactive satellite/Internettraining program for OESs. This program offeredtraining in offender assessment, pre-employment,job readiness, community resources, marketing, jobplacement, and job retention strategies. The broad-cast was viewed by approximately 1,200 practition-ers representing 44 training sites in 24 states. For an

evaluation of this training program and impact state-ments from participants, see the appendix.

OES partnership training. In March 2000, OCJTPcollaborated with the state of Washington to provideits first regional OES training. The training wasoffered in Tacoma, Washington and attended by 27participants from the state of Washington who repre-sented the State Department of Corrections, stateemployment agencies, state social and health servic-es, community colleges, county corrections, jails,and private and nonprofit agencies. For an evaluationof this training program, see the appendix.

Other training activities. OCJTP conducted offend-er employment training workshops at national con-ferences for the following associations:

■ American Correctional Association (Phoenix,Arizona, January 10, 2000). The workshop wascalled Preparing Offenders for Jobs in the Com-munity. OCJTP staff moderated a panel presen-tation on successful models and programs thatprepare offenders for obtaining jobs while incar-cerated to increase the likelihood of a successfultransition into the job market after release.

■ National Association of Workforce DevelopmentProfessionals (Reno, Nevada, January 10, 2000).This 6-hour workshop for 100 participants, calledI Could Get Them a Job If . . . They Didn’t Havea Criminal History, focused on skills in dealingwith felony convictions, gaps in work history, andlack of references. Client manipulation, employerfears of hiring ex-offenders, and tools to addressemployer concerns were also discussed.

■ International Community Corrections Associa-tion (Newport, Rhode Island, June 5–6, 2000).This 8-hour workshop for 27 participants includedskills training in assessment, pre-employment andjob readiness, job development, employer fearsof hiring ex-offenders, marketing, job retentionstrategies, community resources, information onthe Workforce Investment Act, and the bondingof offenders.

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Clearinghouse/InformationServicesOCJTP clearinghouse services are housed withinthe NIC Information Center, which is operated by acontractor and located in Longmont, Colorado. TheInformation Center helps OCJTP fulfill its congres-sional mandate to collect and disseminate informationon offender job training and placement programs,training accomplishments, and employment out-comes, and provides a user-friendly, centralizedresource for practitioners and policymakers to accessinformation that supports the integration of offendersand ex-offenders into the workforce.

Collection development. The NIC InformationCenter has 750 items on offender job training andplacement, 57 of which were added to the collectionduring FY 2000. These materials cover a wide rangeof subjects, including offender job counseling, train-ing in job readiness skills, vocational education,inmate industries, job placement, job retention,career development, and related services for offend-ers. Formats include training curriculums, programdescriptions and evaluations, and self-help materialsfor offenders. Prominent in the collection are unpub-lished materials developed by practitioners.

Annotated bibliography. The Information Centercontinued to disseminate its 1999 annotated bibliog-raphy, which lists nearly 400 OCJTP-relevant titlesavailable from the NIC Information Center or onthe Internet. Documents are listed in five majorcategories: vocational education, inmate industries,employment for offenders or ex-offenders, multidisci-plinary materials, and videotape resources. Subgroupswithin these categories steer readers to particulartypes of material, such as outcome studies and eval-uations and curriculum materials. An evaluationform included with the bibliography invites users to rate its usefulness. Of the evaluations receivedduring FY 2000, 73 percent rated the bibliography as “excellent” and the remaining 27 percent rated itas “good.”

Information requests. Between October 1, 1999,and September 30, 2000, the NIC Information Centerreceived requests from 465 persons seeking materi-als on correctional job training and placement andrelated topics, more than double the number record-ed in FY 1999.

News ArticlesCorrections Today, “NIC Develops New Compre-hensive Training Program for Offender Work-force Development Specialist.” This article inthe June 2000 issue of the American CorrectionalAssociation’s magazine Corrections Today providedinformation on the 120-hour competency-basedOffender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS)training program being developed by NIC. The pro-gram includes individual skill development in suchareas as labor market analysis, employment needsassessments, job counseling, job search and place-ment strategies, and job retention. This training willconsist of training for trainers, thereby providingopportunities for teams of trainees to return to theirjurisdictions to train others. The OWDS trainingwill satisfy the course requirements for career devel-opment facilitators, as established by the NationalCareer Development Association and the Center forCredentialing and Education, which is affiliated withthe National Board for Certified Counselors. Uponsuccessfully completing the OWDS training course,trainees may apply for career development facilita-tor certification and college credit.

The Washington Times, “Ex-cons Find Job HuntEasier in Tight Market.” This article, which appearedin the Washington Times on July 9, 2000, featuredMontgomery County, Maryland’s prerelease centerand its work in helping offenders make the transitionback into the workforce. The OCJTP Administratorwas quoted in the article as saying that by arrangingemployment for offenders, OESs provide a serviceto small business as well.

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Public/Private Ventures, “Getting Back to Work:Employment Programs for Ex- Offenders.” In fall2000, Public/Private Ventures published “Getting Backto Work: Employment Programs for Ex-Offenders,”which acknowledges OCJTP’s contribution to thedevelopment of the publication.

Purchase of Copyright ReleasePrivilegesIn June 2000, NIC purchased the copyright releaseof the “Facilitating Career Development: Student

Text,” “Facilitating Career Development: InstructorManual,” and “Facilitating Career Development:Electronic Support System” curriculum materials fromthe National Career Development Association so itcould use, reproduce, transmit, disburse, distribute,or prepare derivative works of these products. Theseproducts are critical to the development of offenderworkforce development specialist and career devel-opment facilitator training programs, which canlead to trainee certification by the National CareerDevelopment Association, Center for Credentialingand Education (see “Cooperative Agreements”).

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Preparing offenders for the workforce and helpingthem obtain employment gained increased focus asprograms continue to evolve and improve at the fed-eral, state, and local levels. A Public/Private Venturespublication, “Getting Back to Work: EmploymentPrograms for Ex-Offenders,” by Maria Buck, whichwas published in fall 2000 (and is available online athttp://www.ppv.org/content/reports/gettingback.html),provides an excellent historical perspective on offenderemployment initiatives. It includes insightful infor-mation on employment programs for ex-offenders,including five recommendations from practitioners,policymakers, and researchers that should strengthenthese programs and increase the likelihood of asmooth and productive transition from prison backto communities. These recommendations follow:

■ Practitioners need opportunities to learn from oneanother to improve their programs.

■ Although it is important to help ex-offenders findimmediate employment to meet their need forincome, longer term success in the labor marketwill depend on their ability to develop skills andcontacts.

■ Representatives of state-led initiatives and non-profit organizations expressed concern about alack of continuity between pre- and postreleaseservices.

■ Programs were found to be constrained by thelimited public resources available.

■ Across the board, practitioners described thedearth of knowledge about what makes effectiveemployment programs for ex-offenders as a majorimpediment to the future growth of the field andstressed that more research is needed on the con-nection between employment and recidivism.

Status of Correctional Job Training andPlacement Programs in the United States

Highlights of federal, state, local, and private offenderjob training and placement activities are given below:

Federal Bureau of Prisons. BOP’s Inmate Place-ment Program Branch continued its mission to devel-op and implement programs designed to enhance theemployability of federal prisoners. The branch’saccomplishments in FY 2000 included the following:

■ Holding 100 mock job fairs in 59 federal correc-tional institutions. Approximately 5,500 inmateshave participated in these job fairs since theirinception in 1997, and some 2,000 companiesand educational and community service agencieshave partnered with the prisons to provide theseprograms.

■ Preparing employment folders for exiting inmatesthat include Social Security cards, academic andoccupational education certificates earned whileincarcerated, resumes, certified copies of birthcertificates, and other documents required byemployers.

■ Posting job openings on prison bulletin boards.Currently, more than two dozen companies postjob openings on federal prison bulletin boards forinmates to use when searching for jobs.

■ Establishing employment resource centers infederal prisons, where inmates can learn to writerésumés and access employment information,including the American Labor Market InformationSystem (ALMIS).

■ Providing 40 hours of training for approximately120 BOP staff to serve as OESs to assist inmatesin all aspects of the BOP employment enhance-ment program.

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■ Offering clearinghouse services that provide onlineassistance to offender employment specialistsseeking inmate employment program information,including “A Mock Job Fair Handbook,” threeindependent evaluations of federal mock job fairs,and other user-friendly information that can bedownloaded from UNICOR’s Web site(http://www.unicor.gov/placement).

Minnesota Department of Corrections. TheMinnesota Department of Corrections offers incar-cerated offenders opportunities to participate ineducation or work programs that provide valuable,marketable labor skills. Offenders receive certifi-cates or diplomas from partnering Minnesota statecolleges and universities. Additionally, the depart-ment has received the support of the AFL–CIO tooffer apprenticeship programs through the prisonindustry and education programs. If offenders areunable to complete the apprenticeship while incar-cerated, the department seeks employment that willpermit them to continue the apprenticeship throughcompletion.

Colorado Department of Corrections. In responseto the growing social and economic impact of anexpanding prison population and unacceptable recidi-vism rates, the Colorado Department of Correctionshas instituted a 3-year expansion of the CommunityReintegration Program with the ultimate goal of pro-viding effective reintegration programs and services

to at least 80 percent of the offenders released fromstate correctional facilities. Colorado provides rein-tegration programs both inside Department of Cor-rections facilities and in local communities based onthe philosophy that a continuum of services is themost effective method of preparing inmates for thetransition process and reducing recidivism.

Pros & Cons—A Program of the Job Center(Columbia, Missouri). On finding out that approxi-mately 40 to 70 percent of their clients had somekind of criminal conviction, the Job Center (a divi-sion of Advent Enterprises) decided that a specificprogram needed to be developed for this population.Pros & Cons includes a 40-hour job-readiness train-ing (JRT) component as well as placement assis-tance and a 1-year followup period to help promoteretention. In an effort to make the classes as com-prehensive as possible, Pros & Cons covers subjectsthat range from résumé writing and interviewingtechniques to anger management and relapse preven-tion. Pros & Cons also offers placement assistance,attempting to help clients secure good jobs that paya living wage, offer benefits, and have some roomfor advancement. Since the first JRT in November1999, Pros & Cons has placed more than 165 ex-offenders with good companies (a placement rate ofapproximately 88 percent, most of whom are placedwithin 2 weeks of the completion of JRT), complete-ly bypassing, for instance, fast-food and low-payingjanitorial employment.

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Academy-Based TrainingSelf-Report Questionnaires. Academy-based train-ing provided an opportunity for 110 OESs from34 states and Guam to increase their knowledge andskills. After each academy-based training course,participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire onwhich they estimated how much their skill base hadincreased in several areas. The results of this evalua-tion show that participants in these training coursesincreased their overall skill base by 24 percent inFY 2000. See exhibit 1 for the primary skill areasmeasured and the average percentage increase in skillbase from the first to the last day of training for allthree training courses combined.

The first academy-based OES training program,held on October 17–22, 2000, resulted in participantsincreasing their overall skill base by 22 percent.Exhibit 2 presents the primary skill areas measured

Appendix: Evaluation of OES TrainingPrograms

Exhibit 1. Self-Evaluation of Academy-Based OES Training (All Three SessionsCombined)

Skill Area* Percent Increase

Job development 28

Coordinating use of community resources 25

Job placement 23

Providing pre-employment and job readiness skill programs 23

Marketing offenders in the community 22

Providing job retention skill programs 21

*Skill areas are listed in descending order of self-reportedimprovement.

and the average percentage increase in skill basefrom the first to the last day of this training session.

The second academy-based OES training program,held on February 6–13, 2000, resulted in participantsincreasing their overall skill base by 20 percent.Exhibit 3 presents the primary skill areas measuredand the average percentage increase in skill basefrom the first to the last day of the second trainingprogram.

The third academy-based OES training program, heldon April 2–7, 2000, resulted in participants increasingtheir overall skill base by 25 percent. The primaryskill areas measured and the average percentageincrease in skill base from the first to the last day ofthis training session are presented in exhibit 4.

Followup questionnaires. Followup questionnaireswere sent to participants of the academy-basedtraining programs approximately 4 months after eachsession. The questionnaires sought information onthe success of and barriers to implementation of the

Exhibit 2. Self-Evaluation of Academy-Based OES Training (Session 1)


Job development 30


Job placement 23





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action plans developed during the training program,the extent of the post-training collaboration betweenparticipants and other agencies, changes experiencedas a result of attending the training, and the resourcesat their disposal. Of the sample of respondents tothe followup questionnaire, 100 percent identifiedone or more steps that they had taken to improveoffender job training and placement services as aresult of an action planning process initiated at thetraining program.

Results of the training most frequently cited byparticipants included:

(1) Development of new relationships outside theirown organizations.

(2) Increase in job-related skills and knowledge.

(3) Sharing of new skills and knowledge learned inthe training program within their own organizations.

(4) Sharing of new skills and knowledge learned inthe training program outside their own organizations.

(5) Development of working partnerships outsidetheir own organizations.

(6) Contact with peers from the training course.

The most frequently identified barriers to imple-menting improvements were:

(1) Lack of funding.

(2) Inadequate staffing levels or allocations.

(3) Lack of peer support for plan.

(4) Time constraints.

When asked about the most significant benefits theyderived from OES training, participants gave thefollowing answers:

■ “It empowered staff to explore other resources,strategies, and initiatives.”

■ “Networking/sharing ideas—hearing what otheragencies are doing that have had a positiveimpact.”

■ “Getting people in corrections on the same page.”

■ “Expanded confidence and personal goals toutilize OES training daily.”




Job development 24

Job placement 24







Job development 29





Job placement 21


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Distance Learning TrainingSelf-report questionnaires. The first distance learn-ing training program for offender employment spe-cialists, held on September 25–28, 2000, resultedin participants increasing their overall skill level by29 percent. Exhibit 5 shows the primary skill areasmeasured and the average percentage increase inskill base from the first to the last day of training,based on a self-report questionnaire.

Impact statements. The following organizationswere asked to describe the impact that the OESdistance learning training program had in theirrespective jurisdictions.

■ New York State Department of Correctional Serv-ices. The New York State Department of Correc-tional Services (DOCS) is pleased to report thatthe Offender Employment Specialist TrainingConference, held on September 25–28, 2000, atJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice in New YorkCity, was a huge success. The highlight of thetraining was the information provided on exitinterviews and portfolios for offenders uponrelease. As a result of this training, the DOCSTransitional Services Program was given approval

and oversight for the coordination of this venturein our State. We have expanded the portfolio toinclude certificates of achievement, assessmentsand evaluation results, birth certificates, SocialSecurity cards, DD214 forms for veterans, refer-rals to local community agencies, résumés, pic-ture identification, clothing, and release funds.The conference was so successful . . . that DeputyCommissioner Headley asked that a followupconference be coordinated within 6 months ofthe training.

■ Boone County Workforce Transportation Coali-tion. During the action-planning phase of theOffender Employment Specialist training programprovided by the National Institute of Corrections,representatives of eight organizations from BooneCounty, Missouri formed the Boone CountyWorkforce Transportation Coalition. . . . Thiscoalition was formed because each memberagency is experiencing the same barriers to offen-der employment transportation. Although anabundance of employment opportunities exist inour area, affordable transportation limits accessto living-wage positions. With a focus on possi-ble solutions, the Coalition assessed agency andpublic resources available in the community toour clients. We have also assessed client accessbased on available resource eligibility criteria.Attending city, county, and State transportationmeetings to advocate the needs of this populationhas helped build awareness of the communityproblem. In addition, we offer our population aspart of a solid solution to the labor shortage consis-tently reported by the business sector. Researchingthe funding sources and model programs utilizedin similar communities for a collaborative non-profit workforce transportation system has beenanother important part of our work. Our currentefforts are focused on advocacy of the creationof a joint partnership between city and countygovernments to create an extended public-transitsystem that would provide 24-hour transportationto viable employment sites.

Exhibit 5. Self-Evaluation of OES DistanceLearning Training





Job development 28


Job placement 27


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Partnership TrainingWashington state was selected for partnership train-ing partly because of the relatively high skill level ofthe average service provider. This was a deliberateattempt to challenge the curriculum and its trainersto train to the high end of the skill level of serviceproviders. Participants were asked to fill out a ques-tionnaire on which they estimated how much thepartnership training had increased their skill base in several areas. This is relatively low comparedwith the overall increase in skill level of 24 percentfor academy-based training found in a more repre-sentative sample of service providers from across thenation. The primary skill areas measured and theaverage percentage increase in skill base from thefirst to the last day of training are listed in exhibit 6.

Exhibit 6. Self-Evaluation of OESPartnership Training (Tacoma, Washington)



Job development 20



Job placement 13

