Two years after calling on Arkansans to take actions supporting foster children and criminal offenders, Gov. Asa Hutchinson repeated that message Thursday and said hiring more ex-convicts is the next hurdle.
The governor spoke in the sanctuary of Saint Mark Baptist Church in Little Rock, kicking off his second Restore Hope Summit highlighting challenges in the state's child welfare and prison re-entry programs.
The schedule of events Thursday focused on second chances and employment opportunities for former offenders. Today's events will highlight testimonials from foster children and guardians.
The first summit took place in August 2015, when Hutchinson promised policy actions to tackle high recidivism rates and chronic overcrowding at state prisons. Two years ago, Hutchinson also asked for attendees to step forward as participants in the foster care system and to offer support for parolees and probationers.
Since then, a dozen private groups contracted with the state to open out-of-prison re-entry centers, but only six remain in operation. Hutchinson also trumpeted the $6.4 million being spent to fund crisis centers intended to divert mentally ill people from jail.
Still, Arkansas' prisons are beyond capacity and the inmate population is growing. More than half of the people released from prison re-offend within three years, according to corrections officials.
Hutchinson said the problem lay in part with the 18.2 percent unemployment rate for parolees and probationers, despite the state's record low unemployment of 3.4 percent. He called Arkansans' ability to accommodate former convicts "an area of equal compassion."
"We need to continue to provide our ex-offenders with training, with opportunity and to be able to put them back into the workforce," Hutchinson said. "We want to reduce the unemployment rate among our ex-offenders and that's one of our objectives here today to remove those obstacles."
Hutchinson did not set a goal for lowering the unemployment rate among ex-offenders or announce any new policies.
Tailing the governor's speech, Steve Landers, of Arkansas car-dealing fame, spoke about his success hiring workers out of prison and re-entry centers. Out of his 800 employees, he estimated that 10 or 12 had once been incarcerated.
His only rule, Landers joked, is that he has steered clear of hiring car thieves.
"We as businessmen, we as business owners, need to open up a bit and give these guys a chance," Landers said.
Later in the program, Landers' inventory manager, Carl Wilburn, spoke to the audience about being hired after spending 23 years and five months in prison. He said he told his boss he was able to stay sane in prison by reminding himself that he would one day get out.
A group of employers for manufacturers and related industries gave advice on utilizing the creative skills prisoners brought to work, and how to manage former addicts. Employees -- including a woman who served time for murder -- said second chances helped turn their lives around.
"If they're not working, what are they doing?" said Scott McLean, the summit's moderator, of the day's message. "Employers step up, community leaders step up."
McLean is also the director of the faith-based prison rehabilitation program Pathway to Freedom. Seated behind him throughout the day was one of his staff, TJ West, who was released from prison three months ago after serving 10 years for burglary, kidnapping and robbery.
The 31-year-old said he struggled briefly to find work with the boiler-operator certificate he earned in prison before finding work with the group. West said he knows of others whose efforts to find a job have faltered because of their records.
"It's important to have these individuals taking the charge, beginning the push," West said. "It really feels hopeless."
Organizers for the governor's summit reached out through the state Chamber of Commerce to invite employers to attend Thursday's portion of the summit. McLean said there was no tally available right away for how many employers showed up.
Metro on 09/08/2017