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BASF’s Cleve Fontenot prepares prison inmates for jobs after their
release
Program at Dixon Correctional Institute will be used at other
facilities
GEISMAR, La., June 27, 2006 -- Cleve Fontenot, a training manager at BASF’s
Geismar site, is volunteering his skills to a program that helps prepare
inmates at the Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, La. to find good jobs
after they are released.
As Regional Technical Training Manager for BASF, Fontenot is in charge of
training for plant operators at all his company’s sites in the Gulf Coast
region. In his volunteer work at Dixon Correctional Institute, a multilevel
security facility for about 1500 inmates, Fontenot conducts training classes
for inmates who have completed most of their sentences and are in the process
of being released.
A long-time volunteer for other prison programs, Fontenot developed the
inmate job-training program with Michael Ellerbe, Director of Pre-release at
Dixon Correctional Institute. A third member of the team is a former 20-year
inmate at Angola State Penitentiary who walks the trainees through tough, mock
job interviews. Pre-release programs are being instituted at all adult
corrections facilities in Louisiana in accordance with a 2003 legislative
requirement.
“The bottom line of the program is to take tax burdens and turn
them into taxpayers,” said Ellerbe. “The men respect that Cleve is from a major
corporation like BASF. He’s straightforward with the inmates and they know that
he knows what he’s talking about. Cleve is what I refer to as one of my ‘go-to’
guys. He will take vacation time to come here to volunteer.”
Fontenot and Ellerbe developed a curriculum that teaches inmates job-seeking
skills that most people on the outside take for granted, such as filling out a
job application, preparing a resume and interviewing skills. Classes are
conducted three times a year and each class includes about 100 inmates who have
eight to 12 months remaining on their terms.
“Generally, the inmates are unskilled, although some receive job skills
training at Dixon,” Fontenot said. “While the job-training program
provides the inmates with the necessary skills to locate and obtain a job, more
importantly, the training provides the inmates with hope. Hope that
centers on the premise that if they can obtain a good job on the outside, their
chances of success are significantly improved.”
Fontenot has been conducting job-training courses at Dixon for more than two
years but his volunteer work goes back much further to the many years he served
as a volunteer substance-abuse counselor for inmates.
“The inmates appreciate the fact that we volunteer our time to help them be
successful. Working with Michael Ellerbe and the job-training program
provides a sense of personal satisfaction in knowing that we are helping the
inmates to return to the outside world,” Fontenot said. “At least two
inmates have contacted me after their release to let me know they’ve
successfully managed to establish themselves and remain outside the prison
system.”
Dixon Correctional Institute Warden James LeBlanc authorized the classes
taught by the three-member team to be videotaped and a jobs-training handbook
compiled and shared with other state facilities for their pre-release
programs.
BASF’s Geismar site manufactures a wide range of products that are used in
hundreds of consumer products.
For more information, contact:
Helen Cane
BASF
Tel: (225) 339-7207
E-mail: helen.cane@basf.com
Maureen Paukert
BASF
Tel: (973) 245-6077
E-mail: maureen.paukert@basf.com
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