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公司办公室里大约40%的人都是刑满释放人员。周五释放的一些人会在下个周一开始工作。米歇尔·希罗科曾是曾在该公司工作的一名囚犯，他在该公司工作了21年，获得了高级管理职位，负责市场营销和企业社会责任。
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间为 Televerde 工作过的人在出狱后都能获得总部的工作。但他们学到的技能仍然有用；亚利桑那州立大学的一项研究显示，94%的前Televerde员工在工作五年后仍有工作，他们的工资是有前科者平均工资的3.7倍。在俄亥俄州，达恩·迈尔经营着一家名为Nehemiah Manufacturing的公司，该公司成立于十年前，专门雇佣他所谓的“二次公民”——不仅是囚犯，还包括有吸毒和酗酒史的人，以及那些来自流浪者收容所的人。该公司从 Pampers Kandoo 等跨国公司获得小品牌授权。Pampers Kandoo是专为幼儿设计的产品系列。它雇佣了180人，其中130人属于“第二次机会”类别。
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.
迈尔发现，对于那些刑满释放人员来说，找到一份工作并不是唯一的挑战。他们还需要住房和儿童保育方面的帮助，这就是尼希米雇佣了三名社会工作者的原因。新员工最初会被雇佣三到六个月，在此期间大约有30%到40%的人会离职。但一旦他们被全职聘用，员工流动率只有15%，他说，以行业标准衡量，这是很低的。许多工人都有与毒品有关的问题，公司还进行随机的毒品检测。如果员工考试不及格，他们将接受康复治疗。
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.
尼希米无法将俄亥俄州所有第二次重新开始的人都雇佣。因此，迈尔创建了希望商业联盟的灯塔。该联盟共有80名成员，其中包括连锁超市Kroger。他们总共雇佣了600名弱势群体。
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.
抛弃个人的生活不仅仅是冷酷无情的。它在经济上也是低效的。如果有更多的囚犯找到工作，那么社会将会变得更好——无论是那些因covid-19而提前出狱的人，还是那些仍在服刑的人。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
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