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About Hire
IDOC
HIRE focuses on placing clients into employment that will give them a livable wage and career path for success. The HIRE program also established a presence in IDOC juvenile facilities to help reduce juvenile recidivism.
Transforming Lives Through Opportunity
It costs the State of Indiana roughly $20,000 per year to incarcerate one offender. Annually, more than 10,000 offenders are released from Indiana prisons. The Hoosier Initiative for Re-Entry (HIRE) program was created in 2012 by the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) to help people with past involvement with the legal system reintegrate into society and create opportunities to improve their lives in a sustainable way through work. In 2019, the HIRE program was moved to the Indiana Department of Correction with a continued focus on assisting people with past involvement in the criminal justice system.
Employment is a key factor in success after release from prison. After three years, more than 30 percent of those released will return to prison, according to DOC recidivism studies. When the individual remains unemployed, the rate increases to 60 percent.
A three-year study completed using a 2015 cohort of HIRE participants showed an 85 percent success rate. The study also calculated the economic impact that the HIRE program has had in Indiana from program years 2015-2017, which include:
- Avoidance costs: $60,358,950
- Wage benefits: $107,684,640
Stronger Workforce, Brighter Futures
Since the HIRE program was created in 2012, more than 3,000 businesses have partnered with us to offer jobs to Hoosiers being released from correctional facilities. We have made more than 15,000 placements, and of those who complete the HIRE program, only 14 percent return to prison – which is less than half the recidivism rate statewide. We are also strongly focused on helping ensure our clients earn a living wage, and have seen our placements’ wages rise by more than 40 percent since the program began.
