Ex-convicts Paul Suglia and William Wilson participate in a recent forum on hiring ex-offenders. At left, Annelise Grimm, of the Rhode Island Family Life Center, listens during the question-and- answer segment.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

It’s no secret that finding jobs in Rhode Island, a state with a 9.3-percent unemployment rate, has become extraordinarily difficult. But imagine how much harder it is if you have a criminal record.

“It’s very tough,” said Jesse Capece, an employment specialist for the Rhode Island Family Life Center, a nonprofit agency which provides services to ex-offenders.

Capece said he has been on the job for a year, and even in that time, he can sense the impact of a deteriorating economy. “I’ve already seen a big change. Formerly, employers would at least hear me out. Now I’m hearing people say ‘I’m laying people off.’ ”

Solangel Rodriguez, executive director of the Family Life Center, said that with unemployment on the rise, increasing numbers of people are competing for the same small pool of jobs.

So why should anyone hire someone with a tainted past, particularly when people without criminal records are available?

“People ask me that all the time,” Capece said. “How do I answer? For these men and women, a job is more than just a paycheck, it’s part of a larger structure for their lives. They have something to prove — to friends, to family, even to themselves — that they’re able to overshadow a negative past. It gives them an extra level of motivation.”

Paul Suglia, 37, of Providence, was one of Capece’s clients. Suglia said he’s been in and out of the Adult Correctional Institutions for years, mostly for stealing — larceny, shoplifting, breaking and entering — to support a drug habit. “I’m a crackhead. You’re looking at a guy who’s a straight crackhead,” he said.

The last time he was arrested, Suglia said, was March 17 — which happened to be his birthday — for breaking into a car. Before he left prison, Suglia said, he met Everette Frye, a discharge planner for the Family Life Center who works at the ACI. After release from prison, Suglia went to a drug rehabilitation program at Kent House in Warwick.

Capece’s task was to help Suglia find work. One of the places they tried was Senesco Marine, a company at Quonset Point that makes oceangoing barges. Suglia said he had sent an application every month and called every week. Eventually, Capece and Suglia drove to Senesco to see human resources manager Joe Matarese. “I basically got the job by hounding the person,” Suglia said.

Matarese said a Senesco welding training program might start next month and that he would put Suglia on the list. Capece told Suglia to send a thank-you note, which happened to be on Matarese’s desk when there was a sudden opening for a laborer. “Something came up, and I figured I would take a chance on the guy,” Matarese said.

“I’m making good money, I’m working 60 hours a week,” said Suglia. “I watched them launch a ship yesterday. It’s amazing. I’m so proud to be part of something like that … now I get up at 4:30 in the morning with a smile on my face. I’m ready to roll.”

Suglia and Capece were both part of a panel discussion at an event sponsored by the Family Life Center on Nov. 13 at the Providence Biltmore Hotel, designed to provide employers with information about hiring former offenders.

The keynote speaker was John Corella, CEO of Corella Industries, in Phoenix, Ariz. Corella, a member of the Arizona Governor’s Taskforce on Re-Entry, has worked to persuade corporate leaders in Arizona that hiring former prisoners is both good citizenship and good business.

Also at the event were Rodriguez; Capece; Suglia; William Wilson, another client of the Family Life Center, and representatives of the state departments of Labor and Training and Corrections. Also there was Ken Cato, owner of Riverdale Window and Door, in Smithfield, who has employed more than 300 current and former inmates over the last 20 years.

Rodriguez, of the Family Life Center, said finding employment for former inmates isn’t just a matter of economics — it’s also a matter of public safety. “There is a correlation between employment and crime. If people [getting out of prison] don’t have an opportunity to make a living, then ultimately the community is not as safe.”

Roberta Richman, assistant director for rehabilitative services at the Department of Corrections, said the state prison system, with a current population of about 3,850, releases about 350 people each month. In a two-year study of prisoners released in 2004, the Department of Corrections found 32 percent were back in prison within a year, and 46 percent had returned within two years.

Richman said there’s a new emphasis at Corrections on helping prisoners reenter society after their sentences are over. “The new paradigm is to use it [incarceration] as a window of opportunity to help people lead responsible lives,” she said. But she also said the department has limited resources, particularly in the current economic climate, which makes cooperation with community agencies and educators so important.

There are some material incentives to hiring former inmates that are not widely known. Corella called them “secret benefits.”

A federal tax credit of $2,400 called the Work Opportunity Tax Credit is available for employers who hire ex-felons within a year of their release.

There is also money available from the Governor’s Workforce Board, which offers payroll expansion grants for employers who hire a minimum of between 8 and 10 new employees, whether ex-offenders or not. The state will reimburse companies up to 50 percent of the costs of training the new employees. Employers also are eligible for a state jobs-training tax credit on the remaining 50 percent that they contribute toward job training.

Finally, there’s a free federal bonding program for employers who hire at-risk employees, including ex-offenders, that provides $5,000 in coverage, with no deductible, against losses of money or property resulting from employee dishonesty.

Capece said not everyone who leaves prison is ready for the work force. “There are people who come in and talk the talk, they say they’re ready to work — but they’re not. Part of my job is to skim off the cream.”

In the last year, he said, more than 400 former inmates have taken employment seminars given by the Family Life Center; about 100 of those have come to Capece for one-on-one counseling sessions. Of those, he said, 48 have found employment and five are in school or training programs.

Capece said he tells his clients they need to be honest about their pasts. He suggests they develop a “30-second commercial” about their criminal records that explains to employers why the person who went to prison is not the same person who wants to work for them.

“The crime itself does make a difference,” Capece said. “If they pull the BCI [Bureau of Criminal Identification] report and see possession of marijuana, it’s one thing. If they see murder one, it’s another.”

Making his job tougher, Capece said, is that ex-offenders are essentially barred from jobs in many areas, such as airports and government. What’s more, many large corporations have blanket policies that bar hiring anyone convicted of a crime.

“Some employers are more willing to hire than others. But it’s not like I have a Rolodex of companies that I can look at and say ‘OK, I can put you here or there,’ ” Capece said. “Some employers are concerned about their image. They don’t want to get the reputation of being the company that’s full of ex-cons.”

Capece said he has to preach patience.

“My advice to job-seekers is to stay focused. Stay hopeful … when you get rejected from 20 jobs, there’s only one thing to do, and that’s apply for job 21.”

asmith@projo.com