美国国家公共电台 NPR Former Inmates Are Getting Jobs As Employers Ignore Stigma In Bright Economy

 

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About 20 million Americans have a felony record, and people with a prison record will tell you it's hard to get a job because companies are wary² of hiring them. But that might be changing thanks to a tight job market. With more employers looking for workers, that means more opportunities for former felons³. NPR's Jasmine Garsd reports.

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE⁴: A few years ago, when Robby Grant was looking for work, he got used to doors being shut in his face.

ROBBY GRANT: Your resume is very impressive, but because of you being a felon¹, we're going to choose to go in a different direction.

GARSD: Grant had been a salesperson⁶ in Michigan for years. He developed a drug addiction⁷ and started stealing. It ended up on his criminal record. This was during the recession. In Michigan, unemployment had peaked at just under 15%. Grant could not find a job.

GRANT: You kind of get to a place where you feel like maybe you don't deserve. You're not going to ever get a second chance. You're never going to get a break to redeem⁸ yourself.

GARSD: He spiraled into depression and further into drug use. He broke into someone's house, which is how he ended up here at the Richard Handlon Correctional Facility in Michigan. He's been serving almost three years. When he gets out in just a few months, he'll be facing a very different job market. Nationwide, unemployment is extremely low. In Michigan, it's at 4.1%. Prison officials say companies are more open to hiring people convicted of felonies. And they're actually reaching out to people like Robby in prison about potential jobs in construction, furniture making and truck driving.

HEIDI WASHINGTON: I mean, I've been here 21 years. I never thought I would have seen this.

GARSD: Heidi Washington is the director of the Michigan Department of Corrections, which boasts a training program called Vocational Village. It trains about 400 prisoners at a time. Towards the end of their sentence, they get certified⁹ in trades like carpentry and machine operating.

This is where Grant studies carpentry. It looks more like a high school woodshop than a prison. By the time he gets out, it's pretty likely he'll get a job. Washington says just in the last few months...

WASHINGTON: About 95% of everybody who left Vocational Village had a job before they left.

GARSD: That's no small feat¹⁰. Difficulty finding employment is one reason why, if you've been locked up, there is about a 40% chance you'll be going back in the next few years.

REBECCA VALLAS: We're creating a permanent underclass of workers who don't have the same opportunities as others.

GARSD: Rebecca Vallas is with the left-leaning Center for American Progress. She says this especially affects communities of color - 33% of black men have felony convictions. The Center for American Progress is currently promoting the Clean Slate¹¹ policy to automatically erase¹² people's records after a certain amount of years. Reintegrating people coming out of prison is an issue that has created unlikely allies across the political spectrum¹³. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump¹⁴ have made it one of their main causes. Libertarians Charles and David Koch have championed it. Mark Holden, senior vice¹⁵ president of Stand Together, an anti-poverty group funded by the Koch brothers, says now is the perfect time to change things.

MARK HOLDEN: Now that there is such a need for skilled labor¹⁶ in particular, that stigma¹⁷ is wearing off. And it gets back to the whole idea that when employers see the need for more labor and they see that out there there's people coming out of prison who have those skills, they're going to be willing to take a chance.

GARSD: But just how big is the need for someone fresh out of prison? On a cloudy spring morning, I drive to a job fair for carpenters in Detroit. It's packed.

CHRISTOPHER DICKERSON: I don't care what your background is. I don't care where you came from. I don't care what color you are. I don't care as long as you come to work every single day and give me everything that you can give me.

GARSD: Christopher Dickerson is a senior manager at a construction company called Manic. And he is a little frenzied¹⁸ when he talks about how badly he needs workers.

DICKERSON: The projects just keep coming in. I mean, we have to pass some things up because, well, we just don't have the manpower to do most of the stuff.

GARSD: While he works on recruiting, I speak to one of his new employees, Ichard Oden.

ICHARD ODEN: I always wanted to be a carpenter ever since I was little because when I was younger, I used to build basketball rims¹⁹, clubhouses.

GARSD: But things took a very bad turn in 1999. Oden was barely out of his teenage years when he was convicted of kidnapping and second-degree murder.

ODEN: I was in my 12th grade year when I got locked up.

GARSD: Oden spent two decades behind bars. As his release date approached, he faced the conundrum²⁰ of so many inmates²¹ - a grown man with no skill set heading back into a city in dire⁵ need of workers. He was given a career test. It found he had a high aptitude²² for...

ODEN: Being a cop, but we know that was out the window (laughter).

GARSD: He also tested well for carpentry, which is what he studied at the Vocational Village. An entry-level carpenter can make around 16 bucks²³ an hour. When Oden got out of prison in February, the next day he contacted the carpenters union. And about a week later, they sent him to the construction site.

ODEN: Of course, I was nervous (laughter) because it's the first time in 20 years, like, I'm in society.

GARSD: But Oden says he kept thinking about this thing, which was often on his mind while he was in prison.

ODEN: I never pictured myself in prison all the time. I always pictured myself out of prison. So prison wasn't in me, but being free was, so I always thought about that. So when I went to the job site and he asked me - he like, what can you do?

GARSD: Whatever you want me to do, Oden responded. He got hired that day. Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, Detroit, Mich.

1 felon   

n.重罪犯；adj.残忍的

参考例句：

• He's a convicted felon.他是个已定罪的重犯。
• Hitler's early "successes" were only the startling depredations of a resolute felon.希特勒的早期“胜利 ”，只不过是一个死心塌地的恶棍出人意料地抢掠得手而已。

2 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

3 felons   

n.重罪犯( felon的名词复数 )；瘭疽；甲沟炎；指头脓炎

参考例句：

• Aren't those the seats they use for transporting convicted felons? 这些坐位不是他们用来押运重犯的吗？ 来自电影对白
• House Republicans talk of making felons out of the undocumented and those who help them. 众议院共和党议员正商议对未登记的非法移民以及包庇他们的人课以重罪。 来自互联网

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

6 salesperson   

n.售货员，营业员，店员

参考例句：

• A salesperson works in a shop.售货员在商店工作。
• Vanessa is a salesperson in a woman's wear department.凡妮莎是女装部的售货员。

7 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

8 redeem   

v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等）

参考例句：

• He had no way to redeem his furniture out of pawn.他无法赎回典当的家具。
• The eyes redeem the face from ugliness.这双眼睛弥补了他其貌不扬之缺陷。

9 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

10 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

11 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

12 erase   

v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹

参考例句：

• He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
• Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。

13 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

14 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

15 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

16 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

17 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

18 frenzied   

a.激怒的；疯狂的

参考例句：

• Will this push him too far and lead to a frenzied attack? 这会不会逼他太甚，导致他进行疯狂的进攻？
• Two teenagers carried out a frenzied attack on a local shopkeeper. 两名十几岁的少年对当地的一个店主进行了疯狂的袭击。

19 rims   

n.（圆形物体的）边( rim的名词复数 )；缘；轮辋；轮圈

参考例句：

• As she spoke, the rims of her eyes reddened a little. 说时，眼圈微红。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
• Her eyes were a little hollow, and reddish about the rims. 她的眼睛微微凹陷，眼眶有些发红。 来自辞典例句

20 conundrum   

n.谜语；难题

参考例句：

• Let me give you some history about a conundrum.让我给你们一些关于谜题的历史。
• Scientists had focused on two explanations to solve this conundrum.科学家已锁定两种解释来解开这个难题。

21 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 aptitude   

n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资

参考例句：

• That student has an aptitude for mathematics.那个学生有数学方面的天赋。
• As a child,he showed an aptitude for the piano.在孩提时代，他显露出对于钢琴的天赋。

23 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》