From: ghost_of_morphy@killfile.com   
      
   Proposal outlines vocational training for inmates   
      
      
      
   Board to vote Friday on program to help train, educate convicts for   
   jobs   
   By Riva Brown   
   rvbrown@clarionledger.com   
      
   More inmates at county regional correctional facilities could get   
   training that will help them get jobs after they are released.   
      
   "They would be productive workers when they go back out into the   
   population and they wouldn't be on welfare," said Robert Mingo, warden   
   at Marion-Walthall County Regional Correctional Facility in Columbia.   
   "They would be able to get a job where they could support their   
   families."   
      
   The State Board for Community and Junior Colleges will vote Friday on   
   a proposal to offer inmate vocational training at the 11 facilities.   
   If approved, it could cost the state up to $457,600 a year to hire   
   full-time instructors.   
      
   Wayne Stonecypher, the board's executive director, said offering the   
   training could reduce recidivism rates. "Hopefully, we won't have as   
   many folks coming back into the system," he said.   
      
   Of the 240 offenders released from county regionals between June 1,   
   2000, and May 31, 2001, 62, or about 26 percent, returned to the   
   custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, according to a   
   November MDOC recidivism report. Of the 4,384 offenders discharged   
   statewide during the same time period, 1,133, roughly 26 percent,   
   returned to MDOC custody.   
      
   Board Chairman George Walker said he supports the proposal.   
      
   "The problem, of course, is competition for limited funds, which are   
   available for work-force training for existing businesses, new   
   businesses and other demands, all of which are positive for economic   
   development," Walker said.   
      
   Under the proposal, inmates with fewer than 24 months to serve before   
   they are paroled or released would get priority.   
      
   The inmates must pass an adult basic education test before they can   
   enroll in courses such as carpentry, welding, auto mechanics and food   
   services. Prison officials would provide a six-month follow-up.   
      
   The community college board also could form partnerships with   
   businesses so inmates would have jobs after they get out of prison.   
      
   The state's three prisons — Mississippi State Penitentiary at   
   Parchman, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and South   
   Mississippi Correctional Institute — offer vocational training through   
   the state Department of Education. The four private prisons also have   
   contracts to provide such training.   
      
   Some regional prisons already offer vocational training without   
   considering parole or release dates.   
      
   Marion-Walthall, for instance, has been offering carpentry classes for   
   about three months through Pearl River Community College. The prison   
   is considering offering a welding class.   
      
   "We want to see people better when they leave here than when they   
   came," Mingo said.   
      
   Carroll-Montgomery County Regional Correctional Facility in Vaiden has   
   been offering a building-trades class through Holmes Community College   
   since 1999. A part-time instructor spends 16 hours two days a week   
   teaching the trade.   
      
   Cooper Misskelley, warden at Carroll-Montgomery, said vocational   
   training helps keep former inmates who work well with their hands from   
   "becoming disenchanted and ending up right back on the street corner   
   again."   
      
   "They might not have the ability to learn about reading and writing   
   and ciphering and all that stuff, but some are very intelligent with   
   carpentry and auto mechanics," Misskelley said.   
      
   Jefferson-Franklin County Regional Correctional Facility in Fayette   
   does not offer vocational classes, but warden Michael Morris hopes   
   that soon will change.   
      
   "It's my belief that in order to rehabilitate we have to educate," he   
   said.   
      
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