By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — Already an alcoholic when he was discharged from the Air Force in 1981, Luis Estrada came home to South Providence and a sister suffering from cancer. It was all the excuse he needed to sink into a downward spiral of drugs, crime and, ultimately, a long stretch in prison.

Now 48 years old, he served 22 years and two months in jail — most of it in the same federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., where Timothy McVeigh was executed after blowing up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma, killing 168.
“That’s where they sent the incorrigibles,” says Estrada.
But Estrada, who will be on probation until he is 83 years old, wasn’t incorrigible. While in prison, Estrada morphed into a drug-free person with a relentless zeal to become productive. He became a self-taught jailhouse lawyer, writing appeals to federal courts, even the U.S. Supreme Court, on behalf other inmates. When he was finally paroled in December 2005, his skills were so impressive he had a job as a paralegal waiting for him with a law firm in Providence in which a childhood friend, Angel Taveras, had become     a partner.
“I’ve never had to knock on a door,” says Estrada. “My goal is to get a Ph.d. My goal is to make a difference.”
Estrada was Exhibit A last night in a forum at Harris Hall designed to illuminate the problems ex-offenders face blending back into mainstream society. But Estrada knows he’s not like most people on probation or parole. Most aren’t as motivated. Without a strong safety net of family support, mentors and, above all, training for the skills needed to get and keep a job, many ex-convicts will fall into the trap of recidivism.
It’s not just bad for ex-offenders, but all of society, says Estrada. It costs more to keep offenders in prison than it does to rehabilitate them. And then, there’s the public safety issue.
“We are growing in numbers and we’re coming to your backyard,” says Estrada. “If you isolate us and put us all in a corner — doing what? Idleness is the devil’s workshop.”
Michelle Berkely, the acting supervisor of the Woonsocket Probation Office, said many people may prefer to ignore the population of ex-prisoners who live among them. But Berkely says “it truly is our community’s responsibility” to help ex-offenders acclimate themselves to a productive life outside of prison.
“That’s what strengthens the village,” she said. “You can either ignore it and let it fester or do something about it. The other reality is we can no longer afford the cost of incarceration. And incarceration is not the equivalent of rehabilitation. Most of that work is done in the community.”
In addition to testimonials from ex-offenders, a panel discussion featuring representatives of the state Department of Labor and Training, Family Resources Community Action Program and the Providence-based Family Life Center were highlights of the forum, sponsored by the Woonsocket Prisoner Reentry Council and the state Department of Corrections. Roger Bouchard of radio station WNRI served as moderator for the panel discussion.
Berkeley said there are about 1,400 ex-offenders living in the Greater Woonsocket area, including North Smithfield, Burrillville and surrounding communities — about 1,200 of them in the city proper. While the majority of them are considered non-violent offenders, the pool includes a number
of whom were convicted of offenses that are considered violent, predatory or sexual in nature, she said.
Several maps were positioned on easels during the forum showing the general concentration of the offender population in the city. The heaviest concentrations of all types of offenders live in the areas of Cumberland Street and Cass Avenue; Constitution Hill; High Street and Arnold Street, according to the maps. The majority of offenders are between the ages of 18 and 30 and that about 14 percent of them commit new crimes after they are released on probation or parole, officials said.
About 50 spectators turned out for the event, many from professional spheres that see a heavy caseload of ex-offenders, including substance abuse counselors and other social service providers. Members of the Woonsocket Police Department were also on hand, including Police Chief Tom Carey.
If there was a common theme that emerged during the 90-minute affair, it was that jobs are essential to the success of ex-offenders and that any successful prison reentry program begins while the offender is still in prison.
“All successful discharge programs begin in prison,” said Peter Slom, a unit manager at the Rhode Island Training School. “Every time a man or woman walks out of prison, they’re starting life at ground zero.”
Slom should know. In 1990, he was arrested for selling cocaine to an undercover policeman in Newport and was sentenced to 18 years, with six to serve, at the Adult Correctional Institutions. Now 48, he just got off probation a year ago.
Slom said prison life was bereft of opportunity for self-improvement, yet he considered himself one of the lucky ones. Much of the prison population consisted of racial minorities, many of whom were born into poverty and had little education.
“For the most part I was just left on my own to do as well as I could,” recalled Slom. “When I got out I took courses to help recovering drug addicts. If thought it was something I knew something about.”
Eventually, Slom got a masters of social work and, in defiance of all those who told him he was wasting his time, he applied for a job with the state Department of Corrections. He’s been helping incarcerated juveniles get their lives back on track for 13 years now.
But why should an employer hire an ex-con when he or she can just as easily find help without a criminal record?
For one thing, there may be money in it for the employer, says Connie Parks, chief of workforce development for the state Department of Labor and Training. The federal government offers the Work Opportunity Tax Credit of $2,400 to any employer that hires an individual within one year from their release from prison. Employers are eligible for a credit for each individual they hire.
In addition, Parks said the will pay up to 50 percent of an ex-offender’s wage for up to 26 years while he or she is learning new skills to qualify for a permanent job. Combined with the tax credit, the program “could pretty much get a whole position paid for for a six-month period of time.”
Ben Lessing, the director of Family Resource Community Action Program, says housing is often an issue for ex-offenders. The agency’s Family Support Center is equipped to address “all kinds of problems” that put individuals at risk of homelessness.
“From a societal point of view, we’ve kept people on probation in a sort of separate category for a long time,” said Lessing. “Many have children and families. We try to see these individuals as any other individuals in the community and do the best we can for them.”