Pat Nolan, Vice President of Prison Fellowship, writes in a recent editorial for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that prison work programs provide many benefits, but Nolan cautions that not all programs are equal.
Nolan writes of inmates’ lives and the importance of having a job:
Our mothers told us that “idle hands are the devil’s playground.” That is doubly true in prison. It is good for inmates to have to get up, clean up and show up for work on time. Most of us have to do that, and the more inmates’ lives can parallel the real world, the easier it will be to transition back into the community after they are released. Having a job fills inmates’ time with productive activity, gets them out of the “prison culture” and puts them in contact with people in the mainstream of society.
We understand there’s a dignity that comes from working to create something or make something better — a sense of achievement. Most inmates have never experienced this sense of achievement. Work programs can be a place where that sense of accomplishment takes place.
Nolan cautions about putting inmates to work at harvesting fruits and vegetables given the fact that most inmates aren’t returning to farms. For instance, in Georgia, most inmates are returning to urban areas, so harvesting crops will not translate to work opportunities upon release from prison.
A released inmate with no sense of professional pride or work ethic will only reoffend. Productive prison work programs protect society by helping do what our broken corrections system fails to accomplish, and that is rehabilitate prisoners to become productive members of our communities.