For 17 years, Ward Allen has been helping transform the lives of former male and female prisoners, helping them get job skills and jobs.
“The slight, 76-year-old… happily surrounds himself with brawny ex-offenders, erstwhile thieves accustomed to not being trusted, convicted murderers who served their time but can’t find a job to support themselves or their families,” wrote Cathie Anderson in a Sacramento Bee story.
Last year Allen and three business partners formed the Highlands Community Charter School. They hope it will be an enduring institution educating ex-offenders and other adults without high school diplomas, Anderson reported.
The school also teaches truck driving.
It is the truck-driving program that draws many parolees trying to get a fresh start and they can earn income in a short period of time, said Marvin Speed, a parole administrator with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Allen noted, recidivism rates for ex-offenders who graduate have been about 7 percent.
Speed added Allen has a lengthy list of successful graduates that he calls upon to speak at orientations for parolees just getting out of prison.
“If we can address the parolees’… needs, and they become a productive, tax-paying citizen, they gain self-esteem and their family situation improves because their kids or significant other look up to them,” Speed said. “They’re less likely to revert to their criminal ways.”
The cost of educating a parolee at Highlands Charter School is small, compared with the cost of prosecuting and incarcerating a repeat offender.”
These parolees give back as volunteer interns at the Senior Gleaners Facility in North Sacramento, where they do their truck and forklift training certifications.
Rosie Cerna of Senior Gleaners said Highland students “helped us to reorganize our facility.” Also, vehicle maintenance bills have been cut by 50 percent.
