Ousted Official Criticizes Program

More Help Sought For Freed Inmates

The former head of the District's Office of Ex-Offender Affairs said yesterday that during his brief tenure he encountered men and women in "complete desperation" as they struggled to adjust to life out of prison.

"They had no job, no place to stay and no training," said Rodney Mitchell, who was dismissed in October after less than a year on the job. No replacement has been named.

Mitchell said the District doesn't offer ex-offenders enough help. "We're the only city on the Eastern Seaboard without a state-run reentry program," he said.

Mitchell was appointed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), who has held community meetings on how to help ex-offenders and has visited inmates at the D.C. jail. But several groups representing ex-offenders said yesterday that Fenty's efforts have been inadequate.

The office that Mitchell headed had an annual budget of $300,000, most of which went for the salaries of three people. Little was left for direct services to ex-offenders, he said.

Mafara Hobson, Fenty's chief spokesman, said assertions that the mayor does not care about the issue "are absolutely not true." She declined to say why Mitchell was dismissed, saying that it was a personnel issue, but she said Fenty is determined to make the office work.

"These are issues we want to address," Hobson said. "We're trying to find the best person for that position, an ex-offender who can respond to them efficiently."

An estimated 60,000 ex-offenders live in the District. Responsibility for them has been split between the local and federal government since 1997, when Congress gave federal agencies authority over the District's prisoners and parolees. About 15,000 ex-offenders are supervised by the federal Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.

Ex-offenders have long complained of roadblocks to their becoming reestablished in society. In July, more than 100 of them marched through downtown Washington to protest their treatment in the job market. They said that city businesses should hire more ex-offenders and that city officials should insist that they do so.

Rhozier "Roach" Brown said the city ignores the issue at its peril.

"This is a public safety issue," said Brown, who was then-Mayor Marion Barry's liaison for ex-offender issues until Brown was imprisoned in 1998 for fraud. "The longer you go unemployed, the likelier you will be to hurt somebody to get some money. . . . The offender population needs help immediately."

At a sparsely attended news conference yesterday, advocates for ex-offenders said they hope to get the attention of President-elect Barack Obama during the inauguration festivities. Cornell Jones, a former drug dealer who runs a nonprofit group to help ex-offenders, said Obama has spoken little about the issue and won't do more unless ex-offenders raise their voices.

"This issue will never get to his ear if we don't make noise," he said. "He's talking about the middle class. We're the no class, two levels below."