A new job center inside the East Mesa Reentry Facility in Otay Mesa is giving inmates a second chance.
"We recognize something happened in the past that got inmates to our jails, but everyone deserves a second chance. Our goal at the job center is to encourage inmates so they can be successful and we don't find them back in our custody again,” Sheriff Bill Gore said.
The center is a collaboration between the Sheriff’s Department, San Diego Workforce Partnership and County Probation as well as the community program Second Chance.
“The job center is brand new and we just got started about a month ago. It is actually a job center that is physically inside the jail,” Christine Brown the Sheriff’s Reentry Services Manager said. “The goal of the program is to be able to provide assistance to inmates on finding employment.”
The inmates will have access to the center when they’re still in custody Brown explained.
Six months before their release, inmates learn computer skills, resume writing, practice interviewing and apply for jobs online.
They also receive other services such as a free suit for job interviews, a bus pass, California ID, housing help and help finding a substance abuse program.
“That is a key to having a successful reintegration into the community. If you ask the offenders in custody what is one of the things that will help them not to return, the number one thing that the men will say is I need a job,” Brown said.
One of the goals of the program is to provide skill-level training while they’re in custody to help them find employment.
“I’ve been in and out of the system for about 11 years now and I really feel if on my first time if I would have come to a jail that would have had a program like this available that that would have been my last time coming to jail,” job center participant Tayron Jones said. “I think this program will help a lot of people…I definitely look forward to getting out, getting a job and getting my life together.”
The program offers work experiences for the inmates through various vocational programs such as Culinary Arts, Bakery Program, Print Shop, Construction Trades, Painting Program, Bicycle Repair, Laundry Services, Commissary, Landscaping Program and CIVICS (Community Involved
Vocational Inmate Crew Service).
The money for the program comes from a grant from the Department of Labor.
Photo Credit: San Diego Sheriff's Dept.