Program Will Provide For Short-Term Employment For Some Rikers Inmates After Release
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The city will spend $10 million a year to guarantee all Rikers Island inmates serving sentences of a year or less will have a shot at short-term employment once they do their time.
As WCBS 880's Myles Miller reported, de Blasio said the jobs will only last eight weeks.
"When you provide a short-term job opportunity immediately out of jail, it reduces recidivism by 22 percent," de Blasio said.
Opponents, including former city Correction Commissioner Bernard Kerik, said the plan is like giving money away and does not fix the problem.
But Stanley Richards, a former Rikers Island inmate who is now a member of the Board of Correction, said the program would be beneficial.
"It provides platform for formerly incarcerated people who don't have work experience to get the kind of work experience that allows them to be competitive in market," Richards said.
The program is expected to be in place by the end of the year.