October 24, 2025; Tisha Powell and InvestigateTV Staff
More than 10,000 people a week are released from America’s jails and prisons with the hope of starting a new life.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, most ex-offenders will be re-arrested within three years. During that time, about half will return to prison, according to the ACLU.
A program through Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana is working to change this statistic and help those who have been behind bars find success.
Finding purpose after prison
From top to bottom, inside and out, Tony Brown takes pride in making sure every vehicle he touches is perfect.
“I always make sure it’s straight and it looks good,” Brown said.
Tony works in the pre-delivery inspection department at a Baton Rouge car dealership.
“We inspect the cars and get them ready before the customer gets them,” Brown said.
Tony takes pride in his work and is grateful to have a job. He’s never missed a day.
“All it takes is one bad choice,” Brown said.
Before landing this position, he spent nearly 25 years behind bars. Eight years for robbery. Then, two years after his release, he was convicted of cruelty to a juvenile and served another 14 years.
“It was like a walk of shame,” Brown said about returning to prison the second time.
Unfortunately, Tony’s path is not unique.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics report published in 2018:
- 68% of prisoners released were arrested within three years
- 79% within six years
- 83% within nine years
The GRIP program
For people like Tony, there is hope of breaking that cycle.
Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana’s reintegration program, or GRIP for short, offers training, mentoring, employment services and case management that begins while participants are still behind bars.
“And that’s the thing. You’ve got to want this more than you want anything else in your life. You have got to want to change,” a counselor told inmates during a jail session.
That change starts behind bars.
Goodwill case managers and career navigators go into correctional facilities to meet with inmates six months prior to their scheduled release.
If they agree to participate in the program, the inmates start to discuss the future and what it will take to get back on their feet.
“They identify what barriers they might have, the individual might have, and also they help to develop a plan based on what the individual believes life is going to be like whenever they get out,” said Scottie LeBlanc, Goodwill VP of Mission Services.
Wrap-around services
Sometimes the reality of starting over is more complicated than expected. Goodwill offers what they call “wrap-around services,” meeting people where they are and supplying their immediate needs. It often begins with finding a place to live and a job, but can extend far beyond that.
“And sometimes they need assistance with transportation, sometimes they need assistance with childcare. Sometimes they need to get things off of their record, like fines and fees for the Department of Motor Vehicles and those kinds of things,” said Jodee Daroca, Goodwill CEO.
Removing these barriers helps former inmates move forward and become self-sufficient, reliable employees.
A report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce states that stable jobs for the formerly incarcerated reduce recidivism and benefit society.
The Chamber adds that the unemployment rate for people who have been incarcerated hovers around 30%, much higher than the national unemployment rate of around 4%.
To combat those numbers, Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana partners with 200 agencies and businesses that provide counseling, legal support and most importantly, employment for people with a criminal record.
“Because our track record is so good with our recidivism rate, and we can come back to the same people if they need more people, we have a track record of supplying them with people who are good employees,” Daroca said.
Good employees who started off as Goodwill students participate in work readiness training where they learn communication skills, self-awareness and workplace ethics. Skills that may need redevelopment after years of incarceration.
“There’s a lot of things you have to learn. So I went to the class,” said Gerald Jerrell, a GRIP participant.
For Gerald Jerrell, that meant learning after 40 years at Angola, the state penitentiary in Louisiana. The now 68-year-old works cleanup at a New Orleans bakery.
“It’s important to be able to get a job and be able to keep it,” Jerrell said.
“I’m so grateful. It’s really hard to explain, but I’m really grateful. I thank God for allowing me to go to that program to get to where I’m at today,” Jerrell said about Goodwill’s help.
Part of what makes this program so successful is the mentors.
“They’ve walked the walk, so they can really provide some guidance as to what these people who are coming out behind them really need,” Daroca said.
“We don’t judge. We treat them all the same from day one, and I think that just makes a difference in somebody having that confidence in them,” LeBlanc said.
“You’re going to need help. It’s not easy. It’s not easy at all,” Brown said.
Back at the car dealership, Tony Brown has big plans for the years he has left as a free man. He wants to make sure others don’t make the same mistakes he did.
“I prayed. I put it in my mind and I put it on my heart, and I said, whatever I have to do when I get out, I’m going to do it. I said, I done tried it wrong. Why not try it right for a change,” Brown said.
From a model prisoner, he said, to a model citizen.
“I didn’t get into any trouble and I figured, if I can do it there, ought to be able to do it out here,” Brown said.
From participant to instructor
Some participants even become program instructors. Conisha Bee has been locked up multiple times for physical violence. Now she’s no longer a fighter, but a teacher. After Goodwill anger management classes sparked a change in attitude, she’s giving back.
“That’s why I love what I do, because I feel like I’ve been in these same shoes. So, I have to help this person. I feel like it’s something that I have to do. I have to help them because somebody helped me and gave me a second chance,” Bee said.
Goodwill leaders say they are often the first stop for people just released from jail, sometimes seeing them before former inmates visit their families.
Anyone who has been incarcerated qualifies for GRIP and can receive support services for as long as they need them.