Employment assistance for ex-cons - a remedy for recidivism?

Employment assistance for ex-cons - a remedy for recidivism?

Released prisoners must be assisted with employment. This is the conclusion reached in a number of Russian regions, including Moscow that by May 1^st is to prepare a list of positions in the city organizations that will be offered to former convicts. It is no secret that people with a previous conviction, even for "lighter" crimes, face discrimination by employers, which makes them commit new crimes.

Head of the Moscow Department of regional security Alexey Mayorov told Izvestiya about the plans of the Moscow authorities in this regard. Currently former convicts cannot serve in law enforcement agencies, some public service agencies, or educational institutions.

Legal limitations on employment in the educational and medical field spread only to certain crimes. Those who were convicted for crimes against life and health, freedom, honor and dignity, sexual inviolability and sexual freedom of an individual, crimes against family and minors, public health and morals, the constitutional order and security of the state, and against public security cannot work in education institutions. Those rehabilitated for the same crimes cannot be denied employment on these grounds.

In most cases, there are no legal restrictions on the employment of ex-convicts, but factually there is obvious discrimination against those who served their sentences. According to statistics, fewer than 20 percent of the released convicts manage to secure employment in the first year after the release. These data agree with the statistics of the co-founder of the fund "For the protection of the rights of prisoners" Lev Ponomarev, who says that people with a criminal record commit an overwhelming number of recurrent crimes - up to 70 percent.

In February, Smolensk region adopted a regional law on employment quotas for ex-convict residents of the region. For organizations with over a hundred people quotas for the employment of prisoners will be set - one former inmate per one hundred people. These organizations will receive subsidy from the budget based on the employee's salary. 

Time will tell whether this form of employment is effective. In prison inmates can get blue-collar occupations, though not everywhere. Mostly they can be trained as welders, plumbers, plasterers, and sewing equipment operators, the professions that are quite in demand in the labor market. So far regional authorities can solve the problems of ex-convicts only at the level of their own regional regulations. Late last year, the State Duma rejected a bill on employment of former convicts. The document was designed by Ugra members of the parliament in 2012 and sent to the State Duma as a legislative initiative. The bill included those released from prison into the category of citizens who have difficulties in finding work.

The government and the State Duma rejected the bill because it virtually gave former cons more rights than citizens without criminal record. In particular, the authors of the bill proposed to include ex-prisoners into the category of those who have difficulties in getting employment and extend the law to those who turned to the employment services more than once. Some private enterprises show initiative in this field. For example, in late 2012 management of KAMAZ plant offered Tatar FPS Russia to employ former prisoners in the steel department of the plant and provide them a room in a dorm.

However, these are isolated initiatives that cannot replace the diligent work on building a national system of social adaptation for former prisoners. Prisons with their regimentation and provisions lead to psychological degradation of an individual. After long sentences independent free life causes serious difficulties for many. This means that, leaving the prison, ex-cons need to know that they are wanted back in the society, and that state or private centers are ready to provide the necessary initial support and guide them professionally.
 
Vitaly Salnik