One-Stops provide one source of employment assistance for individuals preparing to leave correctional facilities. Prisoners are eligible for the basic job-listing and search services available through One-Stops under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which is designed to provide "universal" service to all job seekers and employers. Many, if not most, prisoners meet the criteria for intensive services provided by the One-Stops, which include assessments, job counseling, and other assistance. Access to skills training programs offered in the community may also be available to some inmates under WIA.

Due to many programmatic limitations or reporting and evaluation disincentives, people in prisons or jails may not receive the type or level of services envisioned under many of the programs and services available through One-Stop career centers. Rather, many of these programs and services tend to go to incumbent and dislocated workers in the community who have some experience in the local job market and who can conduct self-directed job searches more easily than people who are incarcerated. People who are in prison or jail need more assistance and access to be able to truly benefit from the advantages of a One-Stop.

Example: Offender Reentry Program, Suffolk County House of Correction (MA)

The Offender Reentry Program (ORP), available to selected inmates at the Suffolk County (MA) House of Correction, demonstrates that, with enhanced support, One-Stop centers can effectively serve released individuals. Funded by the US Department of Education, ORP provides individuals intensive support services during and after release. Job counselors under contract from The Workplace, a One-Stop career center in Boston, provide employment readiness classes both at a halfway house and at the Workplace's downtown office, giving students the opportunity to become familiar with center resources. Halfway house residents also participate in weekly job-support meetings at the One-Stop for 12 weeks or until they find work.

States should also facilitate access to One-Stops for people in prison by developing satellite One-Stops in correctional institutions. When financial constraints prevent the placement of actual, staffed One-Stops in the institutions, corrections administrators should consider installing "virtual" One-Stops in the institution. The virtual One-Stop would consist of computer terminals with network links to the local One-Stop's website and job listings. Inmates could connect with One-Stop staff and the One-Stop job databases using the computer.

Prison staff members also need to know about general community resources that will be available to help people transition back to their community upon release from correctional institutions. Even apart from virtual One-Stops, the Internet can facilitate comprehensive job searches from within the correctional institution. State employment agencies and private employment services routinely post current job listings online, as do individual employers and media outlets such as local newspapers. A computer with an Internet connection will allow any inmate access to these listings, which can be sorted by region. While security is always a concern within correctional institutions, monitoring and blocking software is readily available that can be used to limit an inmate's ability to use the computer for unintended purposes. Software currently used in some libraries, for example, restricts access so that the computer user can visit only websites that are on a preset list.

Finally, inmates need assistance while incarcerated with the writing of resumes and the creation of work portfolios for use in the job search and interviewing process, and for the benefit of job coaches and employment counselors at One-Stops and community-based organizations.

Example: Corrections Clearing House, Employment Security Department (WA)

The Washington State Corrections Clearing House (CCH), a branch of the Employment Security Department, works with corrections officials to provide services to enable inmates to secure employment, including educational courses, vocational training programs, offsite community service opportunities for minimum security inmates, and both prerelease and postrelease job-search assistance. At five prisons, CCH instructors register their students with the Employment Security Department, enabling them to access the department's JobNet computerized job databank so that they can get job leads while still in prison. In job preparation programs, students are encouraged to use JobNet as a resource and place calls to the job leads that they find using the database.