The Jail Advisory Board and the Ohio Community Corrections Advisory Board provide input for these two correctional functions. The ensuing challenge is to maximize the role of DRC advisory groups in order to both receive advice as well as to impart critical information regarding correctional activities. We have expended significant resources in developing programs in these areas. The area that is receiving renewed attention is job development. Several benefits are immediately recognized.
Offenders learn skills that translate into their eventual self-sufficiency.
Inmates simultaneously are taught good job habits, responsibility, safety skills and work ethics. We have developed partnerships with the civic and business communities throughout the state, where employers interview inmates either in person or via videoconferencing for positions the offender can assume upon release. Through our Job Linkage Program, dozens of inmates have been offered employment. Others benefit by participating in mock job interviews, which prepare them for interviews in the real work world. The challenge is a significant one, but nonetheless, achievable in an attempt to integrate existing restorative programs within a holistic correctional community justice paradigm.