It can be difficult for a person to transition from prison to the streets once he has served his time.

With freedom comes responsibility.

And for someone who might have never held a legitimate job or paid his own way, then found himself incarcerated where he was told what to do and when and how to do it for an extended period of time, it can be especially daunting.

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Even those who want only to do the right thing can have so much trouble adjusting that they fall back on what they do know and end up back where someone takes care of their needs and their decisions, and they are not free.

Rayburn Correctional Center offenders take a 100-hour Re-entry Course before they leave the prison. In it, they learn a wide range of skills they will need to succeed “outside the fence,” such as how to balance a check book and pay bills. The prison even teaches them how to get a Social Security card, an ID or a driver’s license.

But personal contact with service and job providers before they leave the security of the prison can give them an important additional tool for a successful re-entry into society.

On Wednesday, RCC held its annual Job Fair for offenders due to be released within the year. This time, about 120 inmates were eligible to attend.

Warden Robert Tanner told them and the 13 service and job providers who took part the importance of the event.

“Many prisons currently use the term ‘corrections,’” he said. “We speak of ‘correctional institutions’, ‘correctional officers’ and ‘correctional programs.’ The word correction means to positively change what is wrong, to make it right. To merely use the word does not alter an offender’s character to make him a positive model when he is released from incarceration.

“We have been very successful in keeping men locked up, but we have not been as successful at keeping them from returning. Because we are a medium security correctional facility, nearly all the men will eventually be released. Across the country as many as 70 percent of offenders that are released will recidivate—they will come back.”

RCC works to provide the educational, vocational and other support that can make the difference, said Tanner.

“We have all kinds of programs at Rayburn, and I am very proud of them,” he said. “We will award 63 GEDs this year. We will have graduates in vocational school, and even academic graduates from an accredited Associate Program. We offer religious programs every night of the week. We have groups for substance abuse, for parenting, for anger management. All of these offerings will help to correct offenders…But unless they can get a job, all the programs will be ineffective.”

As the soon-to-be-released offenders gathered to check out the information presented at one booth after another, the warden thanked those who made that possible.

“We are especially grateful to people like you who come to talk about job opportunities and offer to give an offender a second chance,” said Tanner. “At some point, all of us need a second chance. You here today are a vital part of helping us to make corrections more than a word—you help make it a reality.”

Those who took part were: Odyssey House of Louisiana, Northrop Grumman Corporation, the Social Security Administration, Covington District Probation and Parole, Goodwill of Southeast Louisiana, Heard Chapel Center of Hope, Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco Free Living, the Veterans Administration, Washington Parish Career Solutions Center, New Orleans District Probation and Parole, Amite District Probation and Parole and the Veterans Administration Bogalusa/Hammond area.