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UNM students will help develop a system designed to stop inmates from returning to crime once released from prison.
At a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Susana Martinez announced that students from the Anderson School of Management will work with the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) on a project that aims to ease the introduction of inmates into the workforce. She said students will assess the skills taught to inmates while they’re in prison and will also provide recommendations for improvements to the NMCD business model.
“Many inmates are released from prison without a clue about where to get a job,” Martinez said. “They lack basic skills, they can’t find a job and they fall back to a life of crime.”
Martinez said about 100 inmates are employed through 10 programs provided by NMCD, but the products they manufacture, such as textiles and furniture, are no longer in demand, so it will be difficult for inmates to find jobs when they are released.
Martinez said it would be easier for released inmates to find jobs if they were to learn more specialized skills before they are released, and that job opportunities will enable inmates to pay their victims’ restitutions more consistently. She said teaching inmates more useful skills will make it less likely for released inmates to reoffend and encourages them to lead more productive lives.
“Not only can we teach valuable life skills to inmates, but we can also protect our victims,” she said. “Through this they can get a job, they can pay their restitution and they will not and do not fall back to a life of crime.”
NMCD Deputy Secretary of Administration Aurora Sanchez said the program’s intent is to provide skills that inmates can use in multiple positions and can then be taught to other people.
“The biggest thing here is to find ways to make our inmates successful once they reentered our society,” she said. “There isn’t a market out there for plastic bags and prison uniforms.”
Anderson’s Small Business Institute Director Raj Mahto said the team, which will include six students, will be headed by UNM professor Maria Gondo and that UNM alumnus Kenneth Blemel will serve as a mentor for the team. Mahto said the program is a good hands-on learning opportunity for students and professors because it will allow all participants to connect learning with real-world situations.
UNM student Liz Earls, who will participate in the program, said she is thrilled that research for the project formally started last week and will run throughout the semester. She said, however, that because the team will only be in the class for the extent of the semester, they won’t have much involvement with implementing the research and recommendations they provide NMCD.
Earls said the team members will not be paid for their work but will be reimbursed $500 for expenses such as travel costs.
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“I think there needs to be a lot more time, so our role will act as a first step,” she said. “Hopefully next semester, another group can pick it up. It’s just a great opportunity from an educational perspective.”
