In an attempt to help more former prisoners get a job and reduce the recidivism rate, the Victorian government has partnered with several textile and food wholesale companies.
In Victoria, 44% of people will return to prison in the two years following their release. Credit: Jason South
Over the next two years, companies have agreed to hire 225 people when they are released from prison under the post-release job opportunity program.
Eligible candidates must work in the prison industries while in prison, a program that employs 1,400 inmates from 13 public prisons in industries such as metal fabrication, wood product manufacturing, horticulture and agriculture. .
Anderson says he was motivated to change his life by the support he received from the family and his “amazing” girlfriend, Kat, after his arrest.
While in prison, he wrote to Kat, swearing that she would become the man she deserved.
“That gave me genuine, healthy goals for the first time in my life. I’ve never had that,” Anderson says.
Anderson launched into vocational training while behind bars. He did a barista course and a certificate in business and worked in horticulture and welding within the penitentiary industries program.
“I did everything I could get my hands on,” Anderson said. “There was a lady who was brought in to teach math and she had a huge influence on me. She introduced me to this book, called Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, which is about a Jew who was in Auschwitz. they can imprison your body, but they can’t imprison your mind and you still have the choice of how to interact with people. “
Anderson agreed that during the first few months after his release it would be virtually impossible for him to find work because he had three parole commitments a week, three random urine drug tests and community service on Fridays.
However, when his parole was eased, he went to Gforce, where he found work doing the electrical adjustment of a supermarket. “So it was a good concert.”
Anderson is now a co-owner of a company, JC Williams Electrical, and is working with Corrections Victoria to develop a social enterprise called Fair Threads, which will allow families to buy clothes that comply with online prisons and deliver them directly to prisons.
Luke Anderson attributes the support he received from his family and girlfriend to changing his life. Credit: Jason South
Fair Threads hopes to help former inmates return to the workforce, with company mentors offering transition jobs and linking former inmates with drug and alcohol counseling and support services.
“I want more people like me, to have a job when they get out of jail,” Anderson says.
As for Kat, Anderson proposed the day she ended her parole.
“I wrote him a letter while I was in prison, and he said, ‘If you’re reading this letter, today is the day I’m proposing to you,'” says Anderson. “I’ve become the man you deserve. “.
The couple got married a few months ago and on Saturday Kat will be induced before the birth of her baby.
“I’m trying not to get excited here, but I’m sure I’ll be a good father,” Anderson says. “I think I have a lot of wisdom beyond my years.”
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