LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) — The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and OhioMeansJobs have completed the statewide rollout of prison job centers with the opening of a new center at Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution.
The Allen Oakwood facility is the 27th and final state prison to establish a job center designed to help inmates prepare for employment before they are released.
Correctional officials say inmates who have jobs waiting for them after release are less likely to return to prison. The centers provide resources to help inmates build resumes, search for jobs and connect with employers before reentering their communities.
"So, our men need all the motivation they can get. And when you can harness all of these resources in one area through Ohio Means Job Center, it's a one-stop shop. They can come here, they can work on resumes, they can look at new technology coming out, they can apply for jobs and really it's just preparing these guys to when they step out, that they're stepping out with the right foot. Because you got to come in this environment and learn. You got to be adaptable, and you got to be able to learn. So, I want them to be vulnerable to sit down to learn a new process and learn a new procedure so they can apply for these jobs and link them up with their employers as soon as they hit the door," said Ryan Walters, warden of Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution.
Prison leaders say the goal is to ensure inmates have the tools they need to find employment and successfully transition back into their communities.
"The recidivism rate, if it's 1% it's too much. We are doing them a disservice if we don't provide those tools to them, whether that's uh job skills, whether that is uh increasing their family supports, whether that's um providing them birth certificates, social security cards, things like that. But uh those are all things that will will hinder them if they if they don't have those things when they when they leave the institution," said Anthony Godfrey, unit management chief at Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution.
Allen Oakwood officials say inmates are expected to begin using the new job center within the next couple of weeks.
