STOCKTON, Calif — Earlier this week, the White House announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor.
The plan calls for job skills training for federal inmates and "individualized employment and reentry plans." The goal is to provide a "seamless transition to employment and reentry support upon release."
The administration made the announcement during "Second Chance Month."
"You do the best you can to survive and then one day make it out into the community and be a citizen," Jason Gottlieb, who served state prison time in Folsom, San Quentin and Solano, said.
In 1980, the 66-year-old Gottlieb got 25 years to life in prison for a deadly shooting he says he didn't commit, but he was convicted as an accomplice to the crime. Gottlieb was later exonerated by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. That was after he had already served 25 years, getting out in 2005.
But, along the way, he realized he had a knack for counseling others behind bars.
"Can you imagine doing thirty years in a state prison and you come back out here in the community," Gottlieb said. "It's very alien to you."
Gottlieb is now a case manager for nearly three dozen former inmates getting their release at the nonprofit Friends Outside, a nonprofit organization that provides resources for referral for housing, mental health, jobs, and education to former prisoners reentering society.
"We can usually tell within the first visit if this is somebody really committed and really wants to change," Gretchen Newby, Friends Outside Executive Director, said.
Newby has worked for Friends Outside for 40 years and welcomes any source of money in the hopes of helping former inmates viable citizens again.
"They're taking advantage of what we have to offer and the other assets that we have here in the community that we can leverage and helping them. Then, their future is going to be pretty good," Newby said.
Out of prison at age 50, Gottlieb's life has been transformed. He's married with children and grandchildren. Now, he wants to be an example for others that life on the outside can be a successful reality, too.
"All I wanted to do was be part of my family's life and live a life," Gottlieb said.
For more information on the non-profit, go to www.friendsoutside.org.
MORE FROM STOCKTON: San Jose Police Department's Deputy Chief Stan McFadden has been chosen to lead the Stockton Police Department as the city's 50th Police Chief, the city announced Wednesday.
