The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department welcomed Adam Foss to the Suffolk County House of Correction to address participants of the Fifth Annual “Paths to Employment” Program, a mock interview fair for incarcerated women.  

Part of the Department’s Women’s Program Services, Paths to Employment is a mock interview fair held in conjunction with Project Place, a Department re–entry partner and leading social service agency in Boston. An impressive array of participating local employers also joined with Project Place and members of the Department for the event. 

Adam Foss, the ten graduates of the program, employers and members of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department came together to celebrate the accomplishments of the program. Foss currently serves as the President and CEO of Prosecutor Impact, an organization that teaches prosecutors about alternatives to incarceration in order to improve communities and public safety. 

“If our job is to increase public safety and reduce the likelihood that crime will occur in our neighborhoods, then getting people from prison to employment is something we need to focus on much more,” Foss said. 

Speaking to the participants of the program, Foss continued, “Today is the end of your time coming back to the system. Today is also the beginning of us working together as a community so that no one in this room has to come back here.” 

For ten women currently incarcerated at the Suffolk County House of Correction, the mock job interview fair was a significant step in their preparation for life on the outside.  As part of a greater plan to reduce recidivism, prior to release, women receive job readiness and life skills instruction. 

With Project Place, the Department offered courses in resume writing, job training, and interviewing skills. Participants put these skills into practice by sitting with employers who volunteered to interview inmates and provide important critiques to give them a better chance at landing a job once released. These participating “C.O.R.I–friendly” employers were matched with the interests of each individual woman in the program for interviews. 

The women participated in two rounds of interviews with two individual employers, followed by an informal debrief for tips on their next interviews. 

Offering final words of encouragement, Foss closed by saying, “Thank you for letting me be here with you today and congratulations to the wonderful women in front of me for everything that it took for you to be here.”