Around 40% of people at the Televerde corporate office are ex-prisoners. Some released on Friday start work there the next Monday. One former inmate, Michelle Cirocco, who has been with the company for 21years, has held high executive positions, in charge of marketing and corporate social responsibility.
Televerde公司辦公室里大約40%的人都是刑滿釋放人員。周五釋放的一些人會在下個周一開始工作。米歇爾·希羅科曾是曾在該公司工作的一名囚犯，他在該公司工作了21年，獲得了高級管理職位，負責市場營銷和企業社會責任。
Not everyone who worked for Televerde while inside will find a job at headquarters when they leave. But the skills they learn are still useful; a study by Arizona State University shows that 94% of exTeleverde workers have jobs after five years, earning 3.7 times the average wage for former convicts. In Ohio Dan Meyer runs Nehemiah Manufacturing, which was created ten years ago specifically to hire what he calls “second-chance citizens”—not just prisoners but people with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and those from homeless shelters. The company licenses small brands from multinationals such as Pampers Kandoo, a line of products for toddlers. It employs 180 people, of whom 130 are in the “second chance” category.
并不是所有在服刑期間為 Televerde 工作過的人在出獄后都能獲得總部的工作。但他們學到的技能仍然有用；亞利桑那州立大學的一項研究顯示，94%的前Televerde員工在工作五年后仍有工作，他們的工資是有前科者平均工資的3.7倍。在俄亥俄州，達恩·邁爾經營著一家名為Nehemiah Manufacturing的公司，該公司成立于十年前，專門雇傭他所謂的“二次公民”——不僅是囚犯，還包括有吸毒和酗酒史的人，以及那些來自流浪者收容所的人。該公司從 Pampers Kandoo 等跨國公司獲得小品牌授權。Pampers Kandoo是專為幼兒設計的產品系列。它雇傭了180人，其中130人屬于“第二次機會”類別。
Mr Meyer found that getting a job is not the only challenge for those released from prison. They also need help with housing and child care, which is why Nehemiah has employed three social workers. New staff are initially hired for three to six months and around 30-40% drop out in that period. But once they are hired full-time, the turnover rate is only 15%, which he says is low by industry standards. Many of the workers have drug-related problems and the company operates random drug-testing. If employees fail a test, they are offered rehab.
邁爾發現，對于那些刑滿釋放人員來說，找到一份工作并不是唯一的挑戰。他們還需要住房和兒童保育方面的幫助，這就是尼希米雇傭了三名社會工作者的原因。新員工最初會被雇傭三到六個月，在此期間大約有30%到40%的人會離職。但一旦他們被全職聘用，員工流動率只有15%，他說，以行業標準衡量，這是很低的。許多工人都有與毒品有關的問題，公司還進行隨機的毒品檢測。如果員工考試不及格，他們將接受康復治療。
Nehemiah cannot employ all of Ohio’s second-chancers. So Mr Meyer created the Beacon of Hope business alliance. In total, the alliance has 80 members, including Kroger, a supermarket chain. Collectively, they have hired 600 vulnerable people.
尼希米無法將俄亥俄州所有第二次重新開始的人都雇傭。因此，邁爾創建了希望商業聯盟的燈塔。該聯盟共有80名成員，其中包括連鎖超市Kroger。他們總共雇傭了600名弱勢群體。
Writing individuals off for life is not just callous. It also is economically inefficient. Society will be better if more jailbirds find jobs—be they those released early because of covid-19 or those still serving time.
拋棄個人的生活不僅僅是冷酷無情的。它在經濟上也是低效的。如果有更多的囚犯找到工作，那么社會將會變得更好——無論是那些因covid-19而提前出獄的人，還是那些仍在服刑的人。
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