By Carlos Gieseken
Pensacola News Journal
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - Adam Harrell started intravenous drug use at the age of 14. It eventually grew into a $1,000 per day habit, which he paid for through crimes that landed him in prison by 19.
"I was a habitual shoplifter," he said. "I used to tear Walmart up."
Today, he has a different outlook on the world and how he interacts with it. He runs a landscaping business, pays his bills and pays his taxes. He's been sober for 4 years and is engaged to be married.
"I'm actually a grown-up now, instead of a grown child," he said.
In February, Harrell was hired as foreman of Everything Outdoors, a lawn maintenance and landscaping business started by the Pathways for Change residential treatment program, from which he graduated about a year and a half ago. The six phase, 18-month program provides nonviolent, nonsexual offenders with counseling, case management and educational training.
Participants stay in a 26-bed dormitory at the Escambia County Work Release Center. Through office work done at the center and landscaping for Everything Outdoors, they gain work experience they can add to their resumes, learn about back-office accounting and office administration, and develop soft skills necessary for successful employment.
Inability to get a job is one of the largest barriers to ex-offenders successfully rejoining society.
"The guys that fail are the guys that can't keep a job out there," said Connie Bookman, Pathways founder and CEO. "If you can't get a job or live in subsidized housing, or if you don't have a support system that is healthy, you don't have a chance."
Participants earn money for the work they do and are required to use part of that income to pay for court fees, restitution, driver license fees, child support and other debts. In the process, they learn personal finance and budgeting and work towards being debt free upon graduation, thus removing another hurdle many ex-offenders face upon release from prison. They also attend Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings several times per week.
According to a 2010 study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the reduction in production caused by ex-offenders unable to gain employment cost the U.S. economy between $57 and $65 billion dollars in lost output in 2008.
"Once you add together the direct cost to the taxpayer of jail, plus the social services needed for someone who is effectively unemployable at many companies after having been in jail, plus the lost wages that would have been earned if that person could have worked, jail time is very expensive for an individual, for their family, and for the taxpayer," said Rick Harper, Ph.D., assistant vice president for economic development and engagement at the University of West Florida. "A program which gets measurable results in self-employment and self-sufficiency for ex-convicts is a high-value program."
The first 6 months were the hardest for Robert Thomas, who entered Pathways 10 months ago after being in and out of jail since the age of 15. He learned to deal with his emotions and be more aware of how his past affected his actions. Anger management is one of his favorite classes.
"It was good to see broken down how my anger started up and how stupid it was," he said. "A lot of times, I wasn't mad. I was defensive because I was hurt."
The classes are taught in semesters to get participants accustomed to an academic routine. Thomas is a part-time horticulture student at Pensacola State College and is thinking about eventually earning a bachelor's degree in landscaping some day. He and Harrell are Everything Outdoors' main employees.
The rest of the crew consists of Pathways participants who are in the community service phase of the program, where they spend three days a week at Manna Food Bank, the Pathways Family Center or in landscaping.
"It's great for them to stay clean, but the real goal is for them to be good citizens and get involved in their community," said Chris Collins, the chief operating officer at Pathways.
The success rate of the regular prison population is about 32 percent at a cost of $26,000 per inmate per year. The Pathways participants cost $15,000 per year and successfully stay out of prison at a rate of 70 percent. Bookman won't be happy until that number is 100.
"It's not good enough. I hate ever saying that number," Bookman said. "We are not satisfied at 70 percent."
Some of the many reasons for the program's success, according to Harrell and Thomas, include the support network that participants and graduates have amongst themselves and the system by which they keep each other accountable. The men constantly refer to their fellow participants as brothers.
"We consider ourselves family," Thomas said. "I have two guys in my phase who are like family, for real. We call each other out on negative behavior."
Harrell has a background in landscaping, as well as in stone and brick masonry, and said he is a demanding boss who isn't easy to work for.
"The guys will work harder for me than anyone I've had over the years," he said. "They know they are working for their future."
Caron Sjoberg is president of Ideaworks, which has provided Pathways with public relations and consulting services for the past year. She is one of three company employees who have started using the landscaping services, themselves. She originally hired them to re-sod her East Hill lawn about three weeks ago.
"It has just spread into a much larger project because they are doing such a good job," she said. "I feel like they are going to be with me for a while... I'm going to recommend them to anyone I know."
Pathways is looking to grow by adding crews that will consist of Pathways graduates as well as graduates from similar programs. They are seeking donations of equipment or funds for the purchase of equipment. For more information, visit PathwaysForChange.org.
Published: Tue, Jun 02, 2015
