Before former Gov. Bobby Jindal left office in January, he commuted the life sentence of Harrison Cage, a state prison trusty who served as Jindal’s personal butler for eight years in the Governor’s Mansion.
The story made headlines at the time, but nearly one year later, where is Cage now? How did his second-chance story turn out? As Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, Cage is doing fine. In fact, he’s one of the success stories.
Since his release from prison, Cage has worked for well-known Baton Rouge employers like Gerry Lane Enterprises and Chef Don Bergeron. He found a place to live with family who welcomed him back with open arms. He even recently bought his own truck.
“I’m blessed,” Cage says. “I got a close-knit family. I think that’s what helped me. The transition hasn’t been hard. ”
But Cage is an exception among ex-offenders, and his story is unique. In Louisiana, nearly 50% of prisoners released each year return within the next five years. That’s because most ex-offenders face steep challenges when they re-enter society, and Cage sympathizes with them.
“People getting out of prison without support—I don’t know how they make it,” he says.
Hundreds of returning ex-offenders each year find needed support in the Capital Area ReEntry Coalition. The coalition, which was launched in 2008 by Healing Place Church and became a nonprofit in 2011, has a network of partners that provide a wide range of re-entry services, from employment and transportation to housing and rehabilitation.
The goal is to restore hope for returning citizens and reduce recidivism rates in Louisiana, a state notorious for having the highest incarceration rate in the country. Jobs are crucial to achieving the coalition’s goal. From an evidence-based standpoint, employment reduces the risk of recidivism, and from a psychological standpoint, having a job boosts self-esteem, says CAPARC Executive Director James Windom.
Windom knows it takes more than just getting people hired. For both employers and returning citizens, job performance matters.
“We’re now looking at, how do we define success? Job retention is key, not just job acquisition,” he says. “We want to make sure employers know we’re giving them a good product. We have to gain their trust so we can gain their help.”
The business community is also beginning to take a more active role in re-entry support. The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry hosted a forum on criminal justice reform in mid-November that included a panel on reducing recidivism through re-entry and addressing employer challenges.
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