Ocala resident Laurence Hankin is a happily married, law-abiding citizen who owns a successful painting company and handyman service that employs nearly a dozen people and earns him an annual six-figure income.
The Miami native is also a convicted felon that spent more than 20 years in a Florida prison for robbery to support a years-long cocaine addiction. The habit also destroyed his first marriage and a lucrative career as an accountant.
The 67-year-old attributes the 360-degree turnaround between his current and former life to God and the Re-Entry Center of Ocala (RECO), a work-release facility that’s an outgrowth of Time for Freedom, a non-profit ministry founded in 1987 by the late Bernard F. “Bernie” DeCastro, himself a former prison inmate.
“If it wasn’t for RECO there’s no way I’d be the success I am today,” said Hankin, a college graduate who spent eight months at the Center following his release from prison in 2014. “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities it gave me.”
The faith-based transitional program, operated through the Florida Department of Corrections, goes beyond many work release facilities by mandating budgeting classes, job readiness and training courses, as well as counseling and educational programs for its inmates, many of whom lack basic life skills when reentering society.
The Center, which currently houses 132 men at its northeast Ocala location, also helps them find gainful employment through partnerships with businesses and employers in the community, said RECO Executive Director Mauricio, “Chevy,” Chevalier.
“From day one, we start working on a program to make the individual successful and prevent recidivism,” said Chevalier, who retired from his job as an officer at the Florida Correctional Institution eleven years ago to take the helm at the Center. “We give them the tools they need to reenter society and thrive.”
Dead-end jobs with little or no upward mobility, like those in the fast-food industry, are not pursued, he said.
“We pair them with jobs they can grow into and have a career,” said Chevalier. “If they can’t support themselves or their family that can lead them on the wrong path again.”
“They have to get used to making good decisions for themselves again,” he said. “They are required to set up a budget and save a portion of their earnings each week.”
Triple Crown Trailers, Skyline Homes, a mobile home manufacturer, and Phoenix Wood Products are a few of the Marion County businesses that have partnered with the Reentry Center.
“Our men are successful due to the community partnerships,” said Chevalier. “We used to have to beg businesses to employ our men, but now they call us when they need to hire someone because we have a proven track record.”
For Hankin, success came soon after he arrived at the Center, via local painting contractor, Swaggerty Painting. The company hired him to do prep work.
“I didn’t know anything about painting, I’d never even picked up a roller,” he said. “But I knew it was a good career opportunity for me so I worked hard.”
Soon, Hankin was given a roller and a new role as a painter, eventually becoming a foreman at the company. Within three years of his release, Hankin and his mentor became business partners, opening Hankins Residential Specialty Painting, Inc. In 2020, Hankin became the sole owner of the business and also bought out Swaggerty.
Today, Hankins employs eight painters and two handymen, has contracts with several well-known homebuilders in Marion County, and also does commercial work.
“I have a good life; God has blessed me,” he said. “But I implemented changes in my life before I got out of prison; success is due to mindset and I wanted to put things behind me and succeed.”
Ocala Gazette October 29, 2021 | By Rosemarie Dowell
