Camden program gives ex-offenders a second chance

Nadja Milburne walked out of prison in January, looking for a second chance. A new program in Camden is giving her one.

Milburne, 25, has been a regular at Opportunity Reconnect-Camden, which houses agencies that help ex-inmates rejoin society. A mother of four, Milburne said she served time for selling drugs and is ready to change her life.

"I want to be a mother first and foremost," said Milburne, of Camden. "I want to own a crib. I want a job. I'm not trying to go back to jail."

More than 70,000 adult ex-offenders who return home to the Camden, Trenton, and Newark areas will go back to prison within five years, Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd said Thursday. A primary reason, the mayor said, is that many people have little support when making the transition back to society.

In Camden, officials are trying to get parolees the help they need.

Opportunity Reconnect-Camden opened March 8 on Federal Street, and Redd and others spoke Thursday at its official grand opening. Funded with a $120,000 grant from the Nicholson Foundation and aided by the Sen. Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden, Opportunity Reconnect-Camden replicates an Essex County program.

Since its opening, the center has helped 283 people.

The grand-opening event culminated in a graduation ceremony for nine clients who attended a 12-week landscaping training certification program through Medical Consultants Instructional Training Center, a job training and placement facility. The graduates each received a lawn mower, and the center will help them find jobs.

Other agencies housed at the Federal Street site include the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the One-Stop Career Center, the Camden County Resource Center, the State Parole Board, and Legal Services of New Jersey.

Milburne, who entered the center the day it opened and has visited every day since, said it is helping her find a job and fight for custody of her children.

Rutgers-Camden donated eight computers for clients to use to create resumes and search for employment. Milburne said if the computers are all in use, she walks into the office of the coordinator, Joseph Cassisi, and uses his computer.

"We treat our clients with respect," Cassisi said. "Everyone deserves a second chance."

James Colbert, 33, a parolee from Camden, visits the center two or three times a week.

"They help people stay good by showing them love," said Colbert. "They never close you out."

Wendell Pritchett, chancellor of Rutgers-Camden, said Opportunity Reconnect-Camden helps ex-offenders and their families get back on their feet, which will have wider impact.

"Paying for fewer people in prison benefits all of us," Pritchett said.

Camden City Police Chief Scott Thomson said throwing repeat offenders in jail again and again doesn't work.

"There is a disproportionate amount of formerly incarcerated individuals living in Camden vs. other New Jersey cities," Thomson said. "The facts are most former criminals return to prison after their release. That is what we are trying to end."

Wherever you go in life, Milburne said, there are good and evil. The people she got in trouble with were the evil. Opportunity Reconnect-Camden is the good.

"Everyone who puts their foot in this door wants help," she said. "They want to be good."