By Trevor Lawson, Kid CAT member
What is the meaning and purpose of work? I’m not talking about same generic Webster’s dictionary definition for work. I’m talking about the meaning and purpose of work on a deeper interpersonal societal level.
What do we gain from work? Yes of course, in most cases we get a paycheck but what else do we get? I have come to realize that the meaning of work, its purpose, and what we gain from it, is far beyond a paycheck.
The meaning of work to me is to advance society in a positive way by the sweat of my brow. If no body worked society would crumble and fall into complete chaos. Work provides purpose for one’s life.
It gives us a reason for getting up in the morning. It teaches us self-discipline through completing assigned tasks in a timely manner. It teaches us how to get along with others and work as a team towards a common goal, we gain a sense of self-esteem and pride at a “job well done” or a promotion based on work skills gained. These are all positive pro-social skills that we need to learn before leaving prison. That is why we as incarcerated individuals need more employment opportunities within the prison system.
Some of the main reasons why people come to prison in the first place is because they lack the skills necessary to obtain gainful employment so they resort to crime. This is especially true for the youth that come into prison today.
In Kid C.A.T. we are all about creating awareness together. That is why we want to bring this topic to discussion with the hope of drastically changing the lack of job training within the system. This could be done if CDCR partnered with outside private companies.
Now don’t get me wrong I am all for self-help groups to help address and process the root causative factors of individuals behavior. But I believe that is only half of the equation of rehabilitation.
The other half is work skills development and job placement upon release back into society. One of the main components missing in this new “California Model” is the value and education that is gained through meaningful and well compensated employment.
A lot of the young guys and even some of the older guys that I have talked to tell me they have never had a job on the streets. I find that disheartening and sad, so I decided to do a small survey in one of our Kid C.A.T. member meetings.
In this small survey in one of our Kid C.A.T. member meeting I asked three simple questions to the group of 12 people. The first question I asked was “who has never had a job on the streets”? 2 people out of 12 never had employment prior to incarceration. The second question I asked was “who currently does not have a job”? 4 people out of 12 were unemployed. The last question I asked was “who was unemployed at the time of their crime?” 5 people out of 12 were unemployed at the time of their crime. I think it shows, in parts, the link between unemployment and crime.
I believe that there is a workforce in prison that is not fully tapped into. If CDCR partnered with outside private companies to come into prisons for manufacturing jobs, taught the skills needed to work those manufacturing jobs and actually compensated their workers with a “livable wage” they would be doing a lot more work making the incarcerated individual ready to be reintroduced into society with a far less chance of recidivism. It would also allow us to pay off restitution to our victims and the state. Plus it would allow us to be able to put money away in savings so when we do get out we won’t be struggling as bad financially what we get out feet reducing our chances of recidivism.
So I guess what it all comes down to is that old quote “give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for life time.” The same could be said about an incarcerated individuals. “Give an inmate food and he will eat for a day; teach the inmate a job and job skills and he will eat for a lifetime.”