Early Retirement Blog

An inspiring Green story from Los Angeles California where ex-convicts are being trained for Green Jobs.   A program  run by Greg Boyle, a Jesuit Priest who started Homeboy Industries two decades ago, helps former gang members start new lives in the Green Industry.   Read the article here.

This is a fantastic idea and something I suggested in an article I wrote titled “Obama’s Green Plan x 10” .   In the past nine years, the prison population has nearly doubled, as a direct result of outsourced manufacturing jobs.   Manufacturing was the one industry that paid decent wages and benefits to non-college educated workers.    Hiring of illegal workers, especially in the construction and labor industries, also resulted in fewer job opportunities.   The natural result was more crime and prisons.

Today, the United States spends nearly $50 billion per year to imprison 2.3 million Americans.   With a worsening economy, crime will naturally rise, and so will a demand for more prisons.   However, due to budget deficits, states are unable to finance new prison construction, and judges are ordering the release of prisoners from over crowded jails.

Programs such as Homeboy Industries in L.A., should be copied and expanded across the nation, as a solution to reducing state budget deficits.   States should consider releasing prisoners into Green Jobs programs, and using a percentage of the savings, to fund Green infrastructure programs that hire graduates and others.

If we return to 2001 prison population levels, states and the federal government, would be able to reduce their budget deficits by $25 billion per year.   Green Jobs for ex-convicts and gang members would reduce crime and recidivism.    People with jobs, with something to lose, tend to commit fewer crimes.  Just another Green Solution for Saving the Economy.

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