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Inmate Training Process

The Inmate Transition Branch (ITB) was created on October 1, 1996, to provide soon to be released offenders with critically needed skills to look for, obtain and retain jobs consistent with their qualifications.

The following activities were initiated to accomplish this goal:

Mock job fairs are held wherein inmates participate in a series of job interviews with professional recruiters from major employers in the community. In addition, representatives from local community service agencies provide information regarding support services available to offenders and encourage them to use their respective services.

All inmate job fair participants are required to attend 14 to 20 hours of instruction in advance related to resume preparation, job interview skills, how to answer those tough questions about their felony conviction, and other job related interview inquiries.

Inmates are encouraged to submit job applications 60 days or more before release and to scheduled job interviews immediately following release.

Employment Resource Centers (ERC), staffed by trained inmates, were established to help inmates learn how to fill out job applications, draft cover letters, search the “yellow pages” for potential employers and assemble EMPLOYMENT FOLDERS that include: a resume, picture ID, social security card, proof of citizenship, education transcripts and other employer required documents.

Other initiatives include staff training for Inmate Transition Specialists and Volunteer Coordinators, posting of job openings on prison bulletin boards, and serving as a clearinghouse for anyone seeking offender employment information.

This Inmate Transition Branch has raised the level of awareness concerning the importance of release preparation for offenders, not only on a national level, but at the state and local level as well. Thousands of incarcerated men and women are now receiving much needed release preparation assistance and employers across the country are realizing what an untapped labor force is out there.

To date, 114 BOP institutions have conducted over 600 mock fairs since the program’s inception. Roughly 19,000 inmates and 8,000 company and community service representatives have participated. Approximately 20 state, county, and local jails are now holding periodic mock and real job fairs modeled on those in the federal prison system.

The target population served by the program are federal inmates 18 months from release, estimated to be approximately 35,000 - 40,000 all total.

Under current BOP policy, institutions are strongly encouraged to hold at least one Mock Job Fair annually wherein local employers are invited to come to BOP institutions to conduct mock interviews, and in some instances offer inmates real job opportunities upon release.

Inmate participation is strictly voluntary and, on average, 1900 inmates participate annually. This represents only a small percentage of the targeted population.

All staff who serve as Offender Employment Specialists and who serve as institution based job fair coordinators or on job fair committees and related inmate placement programs, do so as a collateral duty, above and beyond their regular assignments as teachers, supervisors of education, case managers, unit managers, volunteer coordinators, and correctional administrators at varying levels of responsibility. Only four staff in the BOP Central Office, three professionals and one clerical support, are devoted to this program on a full time basis.

Miscellaneous Information:

The preparation of employment folders, the establishment of Employment Resource Centers, and the posting of job openings on prison bulletin boards are additional innovations that have been implemented. The OES staff training program has evolved into a BOP training model in which company representatives and wardens who have been involved in actual BOP job fairs participate as trainers. The most significant adaptation has been the introduction of the practice of encouraging inmates to begin their job search at least 18 months before release, to write companies for applications, to prepare employment folders, and set up interviews as soon after release as possible.
GETTING JOB READY!

All aspects of the inmate transition program, including staff training, are replicable within other correctional jurisdictions. Perhaps the best proof of this are the 600 mock job fairs held in 114 states that have already taken place in state and local correctional institutions since the inception of the BOP mock job fair program.

We are also able to measure interest in the program by the number requests for copies of the Mock Job Fair and Employment Information Handbooks and copies of the job fair and ERC videos we receive. Those now number in the hundreds, and possibly thousands. We do not have the resources to keep a tight count, but, at a minimum, have tried to record the names of the prisons and jails that have held job fairs, their dates, and the name and telephone number of the contact person. Now, we may be able to monitor this collective interest through WebTrends.

Another measurement of interest in the program, outside the Bureau, is the hundreds of letters received, annually, from non-BOP offenders and ex-offenders who request job search information. Each letter is answered within 24 hours.