THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280027
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
A state prison might seem an unpromising spot for a career fair, but at the Department of Correctional Education's first one the other day, representatives from 11 private firms and three colleges showed up.
Targets of the placement effort were 106 inmates who are in job training at the Center for Women in Goochland and are within six months of parole eligibility or mandatory release.
Whether a felon returns successfully to society often depends most on his or her finding a decent job. The ex-con label can be a tall barrier, but it is only one of many. ``Even filling out a job application is a threat if you've never filled one out before,'' said Randy G. Eppard, an employer who helped organize the career fair, which he views as a motivator. ``We want these people to see that there are opportunities out there.''
Many people behind bars today lack education, job skills, even the experience of holding a steady job. Many, too, are drug dependent. Yet in Virginia, treatment, counseling, education and job programs have traditionally not received as much attention as perhaps they might.
Now that the General Assembly has adopted Gov. Allen's no-parole plan, more cells will be needed. Virginia must find billions for incarceration.
This will keep some violent offenders confined longer. But even without parole, said Kim Hull, a transition specialist, ``96 percent of the people who come to prison are eventually going to leave.''
Money for training and rehabilitation is investment well made. Dismas House, an ecumenical ministry to ex-offenders in transition, reports that fewer than a fourth of those it assists return to crime.
One contributor to the ever-enlarging prison population is recidivism. Too many felons serve their sentences, are released, commit more crime and are sent back to prison. The malady has frustrated Virginia's effort - during more than 20 years of playing catch-up - to build enough cells to meet demand.
Good economics and the safety of the public argue for a closer balance between what the state spends to keep 'em locked up and what it invests in efforts to turn inmates into productive citizens. by CNB