Former inmate works with nonprofit to help prisoner reentry

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By ZOE NICHOLSON

The Greenville News

SPARTANBURG - The Upstate suffers from a labor shortage, and a few businesses are turning to a former prison inmate for help.

In 2003, Don Williams was days away from finishing a year-long sentence for a drug trafficking charge at the Broad River Correctional Facility when he got a call from his sister.

His oldest brother, who had been released from the same prison a few months before, overdosed on heroin after eight years clean, triggering a fatal heart attack.

"It bust his heart wide open," Williams said.

Grief-stricken, Williams returned to his cell, where he found a letter lying on his twin-sized bed. It was from his brother, written the day he overdosed. In it, his brother explained how his employer had given his job to someone else.

"Long story short, they didn't hold his job for him. He's 47 years old; he's been to prison four times."

"How in the world is he going to start over?"

No job prospects, a family to support and a lengthy criminal background. It's a familiar story across the U.S., particularly for black men, who are the highest represented percentage of inmates in South Carolina's incarcerated population.

It's why Williams decided to help former inmates find stable work after reentry into society. Today, he accomplishes this at Jumpstart - a Spartanburg-based Christian nonprofit aimed at helping recently released inmates find gainful employment.

In the 11 years since it was founded, the program has helped more than 400 former inmates find work and stability after leaving prison, said Jumpstart's Executive Director Tommy Moore.

The program begins inside prison walls with a 40-week, inmate-led leadership course so participants, many of whom are finishing years - or even decades-long - sentences, are ready to reenter society.

"It's too late if they get involved after release," Moore said.

The second half of Jumpstart's program begins when inmates are released.

After a "90-day stabilization period," Jumpstart places participants (they have 52 right now) in jobs with local employer-partners.

Williams, Jumpstart's employment director, said employers must pay a living wage ($12 - $15 an hour) and provide growth opportunities for participants.

Jim Walker served five years at the Ridgeland Correctional Facility before enrolling in the program right before his release, in 2015.

He is a production manager at Sun Surveillance in Spartanburg where he's worked for four years.

"In four years, I've come from nothing to having a job, a car, a house."

Walker said employers see firsthand the value of hiring second-chance employees, like him.

"Some of them (employers) are waiting for guys to come through the program and graduate so they can hire them."