While serving a 17-year sentence for armed robbery in Solano State Prison, Sadakao “Doc” Whittington decided he had to turn his life around.
His first step was to find a career he could pursue after his release.
“I wrote to everyone I was interested in and the Sprinkler Fitters (UA Local 483) sent me a package that was so thick with so much information. I put it on my bed and I just dreamed, ’40 hours times this’ and how my life would change,” he said. “All my life I just wanted to be a part of something big. The envelope I sent them said ‘California State Prison Solano.’ They saw that, but they saw me as a human being. They gave me a chance when no one else would.”
Before he had the opportunity to train as a sprinkler technician, Whittington learned several skills, including heavy equipment operation and welding.
“When you buy a car, you don’t just buy it because it looks good on the outside. You buy it for the heated seats, the Bose system and the different amenities that come with it. That’s who I saw those services for,” he said. “My only goal was to get enough experience in construction because I understood that I was coming in as a 41-year-old man. My idea was to get all the certifications I could get to make me applicable.”
Whittington’s professional skills led him to seek other employment before eventually training and rising to the position of sprinkler system foreman.
However, he realized that his criminal record meant that he would not be considered a serious candidate when he applied for a job.
“They don’t give you a chance because they can’t see beyond your beliefs or your absence from work, no matter how well you present yourself,” he said.
According to a 2018 study by the Brookings Institution, ex-offenders perform poorly in the labor market after their incarceration.
Only 55% of ex-offenders reported income in the first full calendar year after their release. Of those earnings, 4% earned less than $500, 32% earned between $500 and $15,000, and 20% earned more than $15,000.
Whittington is grateful to his union and the West Oakland Job Resource Center for the assistance they provided in helping him find a job and reintegrate into society after his incarceration.
Located on the second floor of the West Oakland Public Library, the Information Center is a nonprofit organization that provides employment training and career support to Oakland’s underserved residents.
“The West Oakland Job Center is a beacon of light,” Whittington said. “I stand on the shoulders of everyone who has helped me and everyone who came before me. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for them.”
Tarecq Amer, assistant director of the West Oakland Job Resource Center, called Whittington both an inspiration and an outsider.
“We just have countless clients here who just can’t deal with all the rejection, all the obstacles that they face on a daily basis, when they’re trying to apply for jobs and they’re getting rejected,” Amer said. “At some point, there’s so much demoralizing news that a person has to deal with when they’re just trying to get a job. Much less when they’re trying to start a career. A lot of people give up. (Whittington) gets inspired that he was able to persevere. But his story doesn’t resonate with everyone. Because a lot of people just can’t persevere.”
Amer works a lot with ex-prisoners who are looking for work. He says that major changes are needed to ensure that prisoners can truly integrate back into society.
“What’s been missing is a strong policy push that actually makes meaningful change for our clients (and) for people like our clients who face these kinds of barriers,” he said. “There needs to be a strong push at the local level, at the state level, and at the federal level to really look at how we administer incarceration and post-incarceration that is fair and not continually punitive to people. They’ve done their time. When they get out, they should have opportunities. If they don’t have opportunities, it’s a crisis for them and ultimately it becomes a crisis for our communities as a whole. We’ve got to break that cycle.”
