In Oakland, a Job Where Being a Former Inmate Gets You in the Door

Jobs have all different kinds of requirements these days. For example: “must have five years’ experience,” or “must be fluent in Mandarin.” Clean 360, an artisan soap manufacturer in Oakland, requires all of its employees to be formerly incarcerated.

With high rates of recidivism among those who enter and exit the criminal justice system, employers willing to hire, train and work with former inmates to clear obstacles in their lives may be a key factor in keeping people out of the system long term.

Damian Bradley, one of the head soap makers at Clean 360, recently gave me a tour of their one-room factory. He points out large metal vats of natural oils (palm, avocado and jojoba), jars of additives like dried rose petals and orange peels, and rows of colorful soaps curing on shelves. For $3, you can buy a bar of vanilla lavender, lemon eucalyptus of their signature scent, cotton clouds. One hundred percent of the proceeds go back into the company.

At well over 6 feet and 200 pounds, Bradley is not who most people picture when they think of someone making all-natural, vegan, hand-crafted soaps. He didn’t picture himself in this line of work either.

Bradley grew up in a two-parent home in East Oakland. Even though he was encouraged to pursue his education, Bradley began selling drugs in the streets when he was 18. Bradley says he was in and out of jail for the next decade on drug charges and parole violations.

With a wife and two kids, he wanted to turn his life around. He applied for work at warehouses, security companies and fast-food companies, but never made it past the background check.

Bradley says, “I would have one interview, two interviews, and then it was like, ‘We’ll call you.' "

He says getting an opportunity at Clean 360 made all the difference.

“They looked past my background and they actually just gave me a chance,” Bradley says.

Bradley came to work at Clean 360 through the Emancipators Initiative, run by Aquil Naji and Dr. Noha Abolata. The program enrolls former inmates coming home to the Bay Area and provides a job and training at the soap factory, but also works with them to clear obstacles in their lives.

Naji says that recently released inmates face far more difficulties than the average worker and that Clean 360 differs from most employers by allowing for flexibility.

“The first month we bring someone on, there's a lot of adjustments going on in their lives. They have to go to work every day now, they have to adjust their schedules. We allow for all of this,” Naji says. You need to see a doctor, you get paid. If you go see your probation officer, you get paid."

Once program participants graduate from the Emancipators Program by achieving personal milestones, like getting a driver’s license or a GED, Naji says some are offered full-time positions at Clean 360 or find other factory jobs in Alameda County.

Barron Bradley, Damian’s older brother, graduated from the program and now works as a supervisor at Clean 360. He says the job training the program provides is transformative.

“Ninety percent of the people that come in here, it has changed their life all the way around, they have somewhere to go and be, they come here daily learning how to make soap, learning how to do something good with their mind and hands, as opposed to bad things before," Bradley says.

Damian Bradley also says the product gets rave reviews, “Women smell this soap, and they go crazy. I mean it’s phenomenal. They smell this soap and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, how did you do this?’ ”

Clean 360 plans to expand, moving into a bigger factory, hiring more workers, making new products like deodorant. They’re trying to secure a contract with nearby Santa Rita Jail to provide natural soap to inmates, and let them know there may be a job waiting for them on the other side.