Blow molder Meredith-Springfield gives former inmates a second chance

Heroin took Lionel Acety's freedom. Plastics helped to give him hope.

Acety, an employee at blow molder Meredith-Springfield Associates Inc. for the past seven years, knows he's been granted another chance, and he is grateful.

"Life is good," Acety said. "There are people out there who want to help."

Acety talks openly about his past heroin addiction and the impact drug abuse had on his life. He ended up spending the better part of two decades behind bars, about 14 years total during three different stints, before finally overcoming his addiction and finding work at Meredith-Springfield.

Mel O'Leary is one of those people who wants to help people like Acety succeed. As owner of Meredith-Springfield in Ludlow, Mass., he estimated Acety is one of more than 100 convicts his company has employed over the years through the All-Inclusive Support Services job training program run by the Hampden County Sheriff's Department.

There have been many like Acety, and O'Leary said his company has been better off for taking a leap of faith more than 20 years ago to become part of the program.

The All-Inclusive Support Services program, which recently honored O'Leary for his longtime support and participation, provides workers to local businesses that are looking for another chance to prove themselves and rebuild their lives.

But while O'Leary has been a long-time supporter of the program, he was not always a believer.

"I was somewhat against it, believing that people who do bad things should be locked up and we throw away the key. I was resistant to the program at first, but as they described it more and more to me ... they got my attention," O'Leary said.

After some convincing by the sheriff's department, O'Leary agreed to open his doors.

"We got started on the program with a person, and we have never stopped supporting this program. Over the past couple of decades, we have had well over 100 folks come through our company," O'Leary said. That includes incarcerated individuals nearing the end of their sentences as well as those in transition and living in halfway homes and under home confinement.

Law enforcement employees bring the workers to the plant each day and pick them up at the end of their shifts.

"I think the big thing here is the partnership. Mel and his business is one of many that have decided to partner with us to provide good career opportunities for people that are leaving justice-involved care and custody," said Robert Rizzuto, a spokesman for the sheriff's department.

"We work hand in hand with companies just like his to ensure all the on-the-job training is just what they need," Rizzuto said.

Screening, O'Leary said, is a key to the program's success. Meredith-Springfield has had fewer problems with program employees than with people hired from the general public.

"It's been good in a lot of ways and done a lot of good, and I'd like to think we've helped some folks turn their lives around and get a second chance. I've practiced and preached this to other employers in this area and brought one or two others onboard with this program," O'Leary said.

Meredith-Springfield pays regular wages to the program workers, allowing them to earn money to help integrate themselves back into the community when it comes time for release. Some remain with the plastics company while others leave, depending on their individual situations and past employment skills.

Acety is one of the employees who decided to stay — and he has no plans to leave.

"I expect to keep working right here because I like it," he said.

Acety came to Meredith-Springfield in a low-level position and has worked hard over the years to learn skills that make him a valuable employee to the company, said Edward Kaplan, general manager at Meredith-Springfield.

"When you look at him he's probably one of the highest skilled people here who can fit into any position," Kaplan said.

Acety's problems with drugs started early, at about 15 years old. But by age 20 or so, he knew he wanted to change. "I realized I was in too deep, and I started looking for help. It wasn't like I didn't want to stop. It's not easy."

Year after year passed, a roller coaster of addiction, rehabilitation, sobriety, relapse and incarceration. Along the way, he got married and had two sons. He now wants to set an example for his children and do right by his loved ones.

"You've got to be strong enough and have the right people next to you to keep going and doing well," Acety said.

Kaplan called Acety the real deal.

"He's a good person. He's a good family man. And his family matters. I think that's part of the equation as well," Kaplan said. "We don't look at what you've done in the past. We look at what you are doing now and going forward."

O'Leary used some baseball language when talking about the program.

"It's been a home run for the company because we've gotten some good employees out of it [and] it's been a home run for the community," O'Leary said.

"Clearly they are on their best behavior because they would much rather be spending their time eight hours a day here, where they get to interact socially [and] where they have freedom of movement," O'Leary said. "It's just a freedom type of situation. And it's kind of a badge of honor that they impressed the sheriff's department enough that they are willing to put them out into the community. They don't want to screw it up."

Meredith-Springfield also has benefited from the incarcerated workforce in recent years due to the tight labor market.

"Especially with the last three or four years with the labor shortage and the circumstances with the pandemic, it's been very difficult for us to find employees, so this has been a source of employees for us. We're a big proponents of this," O'Leary said.

"An altruistic benefit is we know we are helping people and our employees know we are helping people, and we know we are helping the community because our sheriff's department has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the country," O'Leary said.

Most of the employees working at Meredith-Springfield through the program come and go, but some decide to stick around to make the job a career. There are current employees who have now been with the company for 12-15 years, O'Leary estimated. One is now a company supervisor.

"We do have some benefits to the company in terms of cost savings and tax credits, and I own the company, so I benefit from those. But for me, personally, it's the knowledge that we're giving people an opportunity to get set on the right course when they are released from the custody of the courts. I just think it's a good thing to do. In supporting it, I've never seen any negatives from it, so I just continue to support it because there is a lot of good coming out of it. I really haven't seen any bad," O'Leary said.

Along with providing inmates and those recently released from custody an opportunity to earn a living, the program aims to teach good workforce practices that will help people once they are on the job, Rizzuto said.

"Our sheriff's department has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the nation. The reason for that is because we take a holistic approach to helping the people who come into our care and custody. On day one we start focusing on their eventual reentry into the community," Rizzuto said.

Providing workforce training means that workers coming through the program and into the community have a set of skills that will help them succeed outside of incarceration.

"What [employers] find is by working with us, we are able to provide them with a staff pool that is a step above what the general public is," Rizzuto said.

"The reason we do it is because it works. We found that when you train people to earn a good living and they can do it legally, nine times out of 10, they are going to want to follow that path. One of the biggest contributing factors to our low recidivism rate is providing the opportunity for people to earn a good living for their family free from crime," Rizzuto said.

Providing inmates with employment helps to break the criminal cycle because workers are released back into society with money they earned while working at places like Meredith-Springfield, he said.

"What it allows them to do is build up a pool of money that can help with first and last month's rent, security deposit, perhaps transportation," Rizzuto said.

"It doesn't just give them job training; it gives them actual cash they can take and use to build upon their life once they get released," he added.

Money to administer the program comes from the sheriff's department's operating budget.

"When you look at the overall low recidivism rate, the investment that we make on each individual that comes into our care is well worth it because our cost per inmate, when you break it all down, is significantly less than just about every other correctional institution in our commonwealth," Rizzuto said.

"Companies that are willing to take a chance on working with people who are formerly incarcerated, they have potentially a lot to gain," he said.

Acety said he wants others to know that they also can kick their addictions and succeed in life.

"Whoever is in that situation, [they] can do it. Anybody can do it. Anybody can get out of that and live a good life. There are people out there that want to help you, and it's possible. It is possible to do it," Acety said. "Life is good."