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Cohasset library patrons, have you noticed the rooms are shi

Cohasset Mariner - 3/3/2018

Cohasset library patrons, have you noticed the rooms are shining with newly recovered chairs, ottomans and bench cushions in assorted hues and patterns? There's more to the story.

The furniture was delivered to the library by Louis and Fernando, two men incarcerated at the Hampden County Sheriff's Department'sLudlow facility. It was reupholstered by other prison residents through fall and winter (at an irresistibly competitive price) through the Hampden County Prison Industries Program.

Library Director Jackie Rafferty is thoroughly pleased with the finished product, and plans to use the program again for future work. Saving significant money on reupholstering means the library can afford more improvements and programs across the board - a blessing for a tight budget.

The deliverymen, Louis and Fernando, said they're happy too, about being out working around the state instead of watching TV and playing chess as they await release. Both have been incarcerated for a year -- Louis for drug possession and Fernando on a probation violation. But they've served their time and moved to a pre-release center that lets them leave the facility during the day, with supervision, for work.

"We actually have a sense of freedom, you might say," Fernando said. The furniture delivery "is maybe how we can build a relationship with other people, instead of not knowing how to talk to anybody."

Interacting with the world outside the correctional facility is a valuable part of rehabilitation, said Shawn Hemingway, director of the program.

"If our residents are not prepared for release, they go back to doing what they were doing before," he said. "It's up to us to help them."

Louis and Fernando's cases are not outliers. Hemingway said substance abuse tops the list of why people are incarcerated, followed by robbery and larceny (which are in turn usually rooted in substance abuse). Hemingway said that has remained constant over the decades he's been in the business. The only thing new, he said, is the ghastly death toll of the opioid crisis, with on average five or six people dying from overdoses in Massachusetts every day.

The Prison Industries Program has been operating for more than 30 years, bidding on jobs, securing contracts and producing products for customers. The program's focus is mainly on carpentry, reupholstering and silk-screening. A master upholsterer oversees and educates participants. Participants also learn graphic arts, welding and other building trades -- real-world skills they'll use to find jobs when they're released.

Solely through word of mouth, the program has become successful enough to pay for itself. There's as much work as they can handle - sometimes more. At one point they opened an eBay store, but had to shut it down because Hemingway said "We couldn't make the Adirondack chairs fast enough."

Hemingway said the Sheriff's department philosophy centers on "planning for release upon re-entry," meaning that department employees have a goal to help residents hone the skills needed for living "law-abiding, self-sustaining lifestyles" after they've served their time.

It's working; Hampden County recidivism rates are much lower than the national average, Hemingway said.

The Cohasset Library's furniture refresh - computer chairs and a window cushion in the children's area, four fully upholstered chairs and ottomans in the periodicals area and two more upholstered chairs in the community room - is a big improvement and at about $7,000, a significant expenditure for our town. But it's small by Prison Industry Program standards: they've rebuilt 750 seats in a Springfield School District school auditorium, a six-figure contract that saved the school district far more than it cost.

Towns, schools and others with strapped budgets benefit, while the program simultaneously provides crucial soft-skill training in the art of showing up and being a team player.

"You see them get out and you see them make it," Hemingway said. He's still in touch with some former residents (he doesn't use the word "inmate" as he finds it too derogatory) and proudly reels off news of who has gotten what job or promotion and how much money they earn now.

Louis and Fernando hope he'll have similar stories about them soon. They want to make it. Both men said their first order of business upon release is to reunite with their young children. After that, they plan to find jobs. They have leads, contacts, plans for work that is "better than selling drugs on the block," Louis said. The program seems to have imparted optimism into each of them.

"We're still human," Fernando said. "We're paying for the choices we made. That shouldn't define who we are."

The next time you're at the library, check out the furniture -- and send good thoughts to Louis and Fernando for their job hunts.

Michelle Martin Deininger lives in Cohasset. You can contact her at moonlightmile.blog.