A few months ago I was hopeless, sitting in my cell, thinking how I’d wasted the last 33 years.
Now every time I turn around there are these men telling me Jesus loves me, and He’s got a plan for my life…”
—Name withheld
There’s no guarantee that a prison or jail sentence will produce a person who is ready to turn his life around. But for many, the need to become a productive working member of society is like a mustard seed planted in fertile ground.
In prison, their dissatisfaction is deep. They long to have another chance at a normal life, but fear they will fail. But the dream of normalcy, of family, of children who are proud of them grows. These are the people we are working with through Jobs for Life.
With a recidivism rate of more than 40 percent, and a cost to taxpayers estimated at more than $20,000 to incarcerate one person in Indiana for one year, it makes business sense to rehabilitate people and keep them from returning to prison.
But people matter more than dollars. Many of the poorest neighborhoods in Indianapolis have the highest rates of returning ex-offenders. For years, the number has grown with unemployment as high as 23 percent, feeding the explosion of generational poverty in these neighborhoods. Crime, drug use, and gun violence have mushroomed.
Every one of our volunteers has been touched by the sincerity of the men they are working with, most of whom have suffered major trauma as a result of poverty, desertion, violence, or drug use. But the message that Jesus loves them and has a plan for their lives and the outstretched hand of a volunteer mentor, ready to walk with them through course work, job search, and life, can help move a person from failure to success.
Not all will be successful; some will return to incarceration, but every man and woman who breaks the revolving door of recidivism is more than worth the effort of our entire team. Jobs for Life has been doing this for years, and UNITE INDY is just getting started.
What a privilege,
Jim
*For poverty and unemployment rates in every neighborhood in Marion County, explore IndyVitals.
*To learn more, see UNITE INDY’s pages on Jobs for Life, Poverty and Unemployment
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