COLUMNISTS

Pulliam: RecycleForce keeps people out of prison

Russ Pulliam

Prison researcher Byron Johnson wants to keep inmates from going back to prison. In a recent visit to Indianapolis, the Baylor University sociologist found a new angle on this old problem at the RecycleForce operation on the Near Eastside.

Started by social entrepreneur Gregg Keesling, RecycleForce employs ex-inmates to take used electronic equipment and find raw materials to sell.

Red-haired with a long ponytail, Keesling looks and talks like a 1960s social activist. He's trying to save the environment and help inmates, some of whom he thinks never belonged in prison in the first place.

He supplements it with a bottom line business mentality, with about 60 percent of his $3 million budget coming from selling scrap, with the other funds coming from foundations and government grants.

He rattles off statistics about several thousand inmates returning to the city each year, in need of transitional work options. "Work is therapy," he tells Johnson, introducing him to employees taking apart old TV sets and computers in search of plastic, copper, aluminum and other raw materials to sell in bulk.

Johnson studies recidivism all over the country, including Indiana programs, trying to discern what keeps inmates from going back to crime. One key finding: "Any time people are helping others, they tend to forget about themselves. That transforms them. A focus on me is debilitating."

He was pleasantly startled at RecycleForce, seeing so many former inmates in a warehouse setting, surrounded by big stacks of old electronic parts and equipment, finding products to sell out of junk and trash.

He sees RecycleForce overcoming several challenges. "Here there's lots of mentoring," Johnson notes. "It's entrepreneurial. It builds self-esteem. There's an element of community and accountability. They're earning an honest paycheck. They're getting some structure in their lives."

They also don't go back to crime as much as other ex-offenders. Johnson attributes the success to Keesling's engagement with his workforce, combined with his partnership with Charles "Preach" Neal. "Preach" is an African-American ex-inmate who came through RecycleForce and is now a top executive there.

"I have not seen anything like RecycleForce, where you have a company owner who is the employees' champion," Johnson said. "Most guys never see the boss."

Sometimes Johnson uses return on investment analysis to evaluate these programs. He's not sure of the exact numbers for RecycleForce, but he thinks its stock is yielding solid returns for Indianapolis.

Pulliam is associate editor of the Star. Email him at Russell.pulliam@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: RBPulliam@twitter.com.