It’s no secret that many businesses are struggling to maintain adequate staffing levels while Deer Ridge Correctional Institution has regular releases of adults following time served. What can be done to prepare adults in custody for regular employment upon their release and help prevent their return to incarceration? A plan has been developed for that.

East Cascades Works, the local workforce development board serving the 10 counties east of the Cascade Mountain Range, worked in partnership with the Oregon Department of Corrections and Oregon Employment Department to open the state’s first WorkSource Oregon centers inside the two correctional facilities in their region. Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Madras and Warner Creek Correctional Facility in Lakeview have now had WorkSource Oregon Reentry programs for several years, and with federal and Future Ready Oregon investments have been able to scale services statewide. The centers purpose is to assist Adults in Custody find employment across the state following their release and return home.

This pilot program with WorkSource Oregon began at DRCI in 2018 when East Cascades Works’ private sector Board of Directors identified people impacted by the criminal justice system as a priority population available to create a talent pipeline. We have prisons that can help support local businesses; all that was needed was a support system to assist AICs with job training, resume preparation, job application and interviewing. AICs benefit from support systems to help them navigate the transition from the structured prison life to use and understand the technical and computer-centric needs of today’s workforce. These skills and a meaningful job greatly reduce the rates of recidivism.

Cascades Works and partner groups developed programs and sourced grants such as the Future Ready Oregon capacity building grant and US Dept. of Labor Pathways Home to build computer labs, and by 2025 all computer labs are up and running with limited part-time staffing. These labs serve both community and prison-based services.

WorkSource Oregon reported that all counties in Oregon now have community-based case managers who are specially trained to help returning citizens find meaningful work in their home communities. And it all started in Madras.

East Cascades Works Executive Director Heather Ficht was able to provide some results on the success of their program to match AICs from Madras and Pendleton with employment:

July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024:

Pre-release program participants – 332
Released participants – 277
Active participants post release – 138
Total employed or in training – 107
By 2024 all 12 Oregon prisons are in the program, and between July 2024 – April 2025, a total of 703 AIC’s were enrolled.

When questioned why these programs matter, Ficht cited the following:

• It is logical to align state and federal investments, address a talent pipeline issue employers face, and increase community safety by reducing recidivism.

• Incarceration impacts entire families for generations, once someone’s time is served they deserve to re-integrate in their communities and become contributing members.

• It reduces reliance on already stressed social support systems, reduces the cost of incarcerating people, and increases tax base on which Oregon is so dependent.

Ficht stated, “The one-year recidivism rate is less than 1% for enrolled participants who’ve exited services.”

As mentioned above, the centers currently have minimal staff, and East Cascade Works is hoping that Oregon House Bill 2972 will pass this legislative session to receive the full potential of this outreach effort. For more information or a testimonial, their website is https://eastcascadesworks.org.