Program helps ex-cons re-enter work force
More than 500 former inmates have participated
By AMANDA LLEWELLYN
VIEW STAFF WRITER
Ex-con Gene Pinney, 45, has a checkered past, but he's served his time, and with a little help from one local organization, he is hoping to turn his life around.
"I want to be just like everyone else," he said. "I want to work and be able to pay my bills. I want a simple life. I just need someone to give me a chance."
Pinney, who was paroled almost 13 months ago after serving more than 10 years for burglary, is a participant in the Prisoner Re-entry Program offered by the Las Vegas Urban League, 930 W. Owens Ave.
The program, which started in 2007, is designed to help former convicts reacclimatize to society and avoid going back to prison. Violent-offense criminals, including sex offenders, are not allowed to participate in the program.
"We offer a string of services that can help these folks find their way through what might otherwise be an overwhelming experience," project manager John Collins said. "We aren't talking about people who did three months. Some of our clients have been inside for 30 years. They have spent more than half of their lives incarcerated. So, you're dealing with a high level of institutionalization."
The program offers ex-convicts resources to aid with transportation, housing, job training, education and placement, along with work force readiness workshops that teach résumé writing and interview skills.
"Some of these guys have never had a job," Collins said. "So, we are basically starting from scratch."
Collins said program participants usually are recruited three months before their release and are told to come by the Urban League's office within those first few days of freedom.
"Most of the time, when you get out of prison, you are dropped off at the probation office or the bus station with $20 in your pocket," Collins said. "If you have been on the inside for a while, you may have no place to go. No job. No car. Most have no family or friends. They have no means to get on their feet. This is the situation that can create a re-offense. Our goal is to keep that from happening."
Of the more than 500 former Nevada inmates who participated in the re-entry program last year, only two have ended up back behind bars, Collins said.
"They have to want to change," Collins said. "But you know, most of them do. I think the key thing is that potential employers give them a chance."
Pinney, who served his sentence at High Desert State Prison, has been unable to find work since returning to society in the summer of 2008.
"There's a stigma attached to be a convicted felon," he said. "It makes it extremely hard to find work. But I'm not giving up. I will do anything. Clean toilets, sweep the parking lot ... I just want a job."
Pinney, who is currently residing in a halfway house, has been dependent upon welfare services to sustain himself.
"I was offered a job at a factory in North Las Vegas, at one point," he said. "Then they asked if I had ever been convicted of a felony. Of course, the answer was yes. The guy told me he was sorry. He wanted to hire me, but corporate policy would not allow him to."
Collins said that people like Pinney are in an awful pinch on two fronts: First, because many employers are not willing to hire ex-cons, and secondly, because many of the industries that work with the program to find participants jobs or get them enrolled in apprenticeship programs are suffering due to the bad economy.
"In the past, the construction industry has been great to us," Collins said. "Today, there are waiting lists hundreds of people long looking for work. It's tough."
Collins said he believes things will improve for Pinney and other program participants in similar situations if they can hang on.
"We have a great program here," he said. "It changes lives. And in these tough times, we all have to just hunker down and make it work."
Contact North Las Vegas and Downtown View reporter Amanda Llewellyn at allewellyn@viewnews.com or 380-4535.