Redeeming Justice

by Catherine Rohr

Put prisoners together with some Harvard MBA students, a business plan competition, and a gutsy New York investment banker and amazing things happen. This idea turned into a national program and is reshaping the justice system’s commitment to prisoners reentering society.

Comments

David Weinschrott

Thank you Catherine for your good work - and your walk of faith. You were ringing bells in my experience in your comments about these guys who have been in the joint.

Several colleagues and I formed a non-profit to hire ex-offenders a few years ago. We were in a building where another tenant had left a bunch of electronic waste. We started a business to recycle e-waste and now have a million dollar budget and move several million pounds of e-waste in and out. Our guys break it down over a period of 6 months and earn wages in the process. We help them "leave the prison trash behind" and learn to navigate their parole/probation obligations, re-connect with their families, get driver licenses, housing etc. Our mantra each morning is "I ain't lookin back because I ain't goin back" We are a formal transitional jobs / social enterprise.

We are not explicitly faith-based, but we live by faith - week by week for the payroll as you noted. I am becoming retired, but am able to spend time with these guys two or three times a week. They have trained me to tear down TV sets and computer monitors.

You can see our website at www.work-force-inc.com Would be interested to hear more about your work - we have similar recidivism rates as you - but still have a lot of difficulty getting guys into jobs. I have been a research economist for some 30 years - my website is www.prodevassociates.com God bless you!

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