This is the final article in a three-part series on the offender reentry services at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center.
To read part one, click here:
To read part two, click here:
Local companies will hold practice job interviews this month with inmates scheduled to soon be released from the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center (MECC) in Pacific.
Jesse Amsden, the employment transition specialist with the facility, said the agreement gives the men at the prison practice for job interviews they’ll face after their release.
“That practice will help them,” Amsden said. “Our overarching goal is that they will have the resources they need upon release so that they do not return.”
The first company to agree to hold the trial interviews was PLZ Corp., a manufacturing plant in Pacific that makes customized household cleaning products.
Amsden said the interview program is open to men who are less than six months away from being released, but eventually the prison plans to open the program to more inmates.
“I’m excited about that,” said Shannon Bappert, PLZ’s human resources manager, of the interviews. “We want to collaborate within our community and be a good neighbor.”
Bappert said she sees the agreement as a win-win for the prison and the plant. She said PLZ is a second-chance employer, which means it frequently hires people with criminal records.
She said the company is open to holding the interviews at the prison or over video calls.
“I anticipate some of my supervisors and managers to go (to the interviews),” she said. “I need some of these guys to have interviewing experience, learn what you can and can’t ask, and maybe what to do with the information that is voluntarily given to you so that you can pick up the strengths that this person has learned and honed while being incarcerated.
“I’m also excited to be able to perhaps hire and keep these people within the community.”
Amsden said MECC works to place people released from prison with their local job center representatives. He said building connections with local employers will help keep those recently released from prison on the right side of the bars.
Justin Campbell, 41, has served 11 years of a 17-year prison sentence for first-degree assault, first-degree robbery, second-degree burglary, second-degree assault and two counts of felonious restraint and armed criminal action.
He said it is difficult for many people to adjust after being released from prison.
“At the end of the day, a lot of these guys are going to walk out of here with less than $20 in their pocket,” Campbell said. “(MECC) is setting people up for success by getting guys their state ID, birth certificate and Social Security card, but at the end of the day a large majority of the people are getting out of here with nothing in their pockets.”
Life after imprisonment
On Dec. 21, employees at PLZ worked to fill, label, seal, pack and deliver aerosol cans filled with Sprayway glass cleaner, one of the manufacturer’s brands.
Lead mechanic Ryan Hubbard, who lives in Union, was working to fix a leak in a shuttle valve that shoots pressurized air, sending a package down the assembly line. Hubbard has worked at PLZ for 16 years.
Hubbard, 38, said before working at PLZ, he was in and out of county jails on DWI charges. He served his time on the weekends as part of a work release program.
“I used to be a really bad alcoholic; I didn’t have any goals at all,” Hubbard said. “I got three DWIs in one month, and they impounded my car. I made enough money to where I could get a lawyer and help get (the charges) reduced so I didn’t get a felony. That’s the route I took.”
Hubbard said working at PLZ gave him job security and stability. He started, as a lot of people with criminal records do, on the “vampire shift,” working from 3:55 p.m. to 4:05 a.m.
“I was a troubled child,” Hubbard said. “We didn’t have a choice. It was either go to work or go to jail. I chose to stick with work. I wanted to change, to be better. I come from a very dysfunctional family, and I don’t want to be like them.”
He said working the night shift was beneficial because it kept him from staying out late at bars or parties.
“A number of our second-chance employees will work the second shift so that they can do any parole visits or drug testing during the day, and we will make any accommodations,” Bappert said.
One of the challenges Hubbard said he faced after having his driver’s license revoked was finding adequate transportation in rural Missouri. He said owning a car shouldn’t be considered a luxury because for many it is the only way to get to and from work.
Hubbard said he could not obtain a driver’s license for 10 years.
“The first thing I went to do (when released) was get a vehicle, which I wasn’t allowed to drive,” he said. “For the first month, I actually stayed in my car a lot, in a commuter parking lot, before getting back up and going to work. Finally, I got a place that was within walking distance from work so I didn’t have to drive.
“You’ve got to get to places, you know.”
Campbell said if not given the proper resources, a person leaving prison can easily fall back into a life of crime.
“I might live next door to you one day or another person that’s in here,” he said. “If they’re being released with $20 in their pocket, he can’t live off of $20 for two weeks even if he were able to get a job on Day One. A person who has already been down that path will most likely revert to crime to fill in that gap or that lack of finances.”
Campbell said the efforts MECC is making to connect those incarcerated with job resources is a good start – including the re-entry center and the vocational programs – but more could be done.
MECC offers opportunities to participate in unpaid vocational training, such as culinary classes or coding classes and paid jobs through the Missouri Vocational Enterprises program. The facility’s re-entry center also offers a way to develop workplace skills.
The center, which opened in July, is designed to provide skills and opportunities to those preparing for release, making it easier for them to blend back into society.
“Anyone can land a job, but when I get out of here, I want a career,” Campbell said. “(MECC) needs to be able to make sure that guys coming out of here are earning a livable wage and they have jobs they like, not jobs they hate.”
Change in workforce
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called 2022 the year of the “Great Resignation” following the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, more than 50 million workers quit their jobs. As of August 2023, 30.5 million more have quit.
Bappert said PLZ has not been immune from the pandemic’s effects. She said the plant has 400 employees to produce products 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“The landscape has changed so much with COVID, as you know, so employees aren’t exactly knocking at the door,” Bappert said. “Sometimes, second-chance employees are the ones who stick with you through thick and thin.”
Hubbard said PLZ has invested a lot of time in developing his skills as a mechanic. He said he’s worked alongside a lot of hard-working employees with criminal records and has found most of them to be reliable.
He said the plant is a fast-paced work environment that requires vigilance and focus.
“We count on people showing up every day,” Hubbard said. “Some things we do up here require a certain skill set to do. The good thing about this place is you will learn that skill set here. There are a lot of people here who don’t have an education but still have high positions.”
Bappert said just like any new hire at PLZ, second-chance employees have a window of time to figure out if the job is right for them.
“There might have been some who were overwhelmed and had business that had to be taken care of before they started coming to work for us, a family situation or something,” Bappert said of employees recently released from prison. “Those instances are probably taken care of within 90 days, just like any other employee that if they’re not fitting our culture, they leave.”
Hubbard said he changed his life not only for himself but for his three children – Patience, 3, Liam, 6, and Mia, 9.
“I’ve grown a lot,” he said. “I don’t think about myself anymore, I think about those three.”