GATESVILLE \u2014 Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials this week hosted their second Skills Demonstration and Career Expo at the Crain and Hilltop units in Gatesville to allow inmates to showcase new jobs skills to prospective employers from throughout the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A total of 59 female inmates participated in the Wednesday demonstration to showcase their culinary arts (cooking), electrical work, welding, and truck driving skills to dozens of \u201csecond-chance\u201d employers, who can receive various incentives like tax credits and bond protections from the state for hiring formerly incarcerated workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Lack of employment is one of the leading causes for recidivism \u2014 the tendency for a convicted criminal to commit crime again \u2014 and so TDCJ is working to try and make sure a vast majority of its inmates have jobs to go to when they are released from prison, said April Zamora, director of TDCJ\u2019s Reentry and Integration Division in Austin, who was on hand for Wednesday\u2019s event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cOur goal is that by the year 2030, 95% of those that are work-eligible have a job when they are released,\u201d Zamora said. \u201cSo what we\u2019re trying to do today is work with our Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Logistics Division, the Wyndham School District, and our various providers of educational services to do this skills demonstration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to show employers who maybe have not engaged in second-chance hiring the skill sets that we\u2019re teaching. We want to show them that we do have people coming into prison who are gaining education, skills and knowledge, and can enter the workforce as they leave prison. We try and touch every single person exiting TDCJ. Last year, that number was over 40,000. In terms of parole, we also work with parolees should they become unemployed during their tenure on parole. If they release without a job, we\u2019re immediately working to get them a job.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Among the job skills programs that are offered for Texas prison inmates by the Wyndham School District, Central Texas College, and TDCJ are culinary arts, restaurant operations, electrical trades, advanced electrical, truck driving, welding and warehousing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Tara Lukehart, site director for Central Texas College\u2019s Gatesville service area, said CTC had 13 inmates in culinary\/restaurant operations, and programs like Wednesday\u2019s expo are important for helping them find work when they get out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cI really applaud TDCJ and Wyndham School District for all the work they put into this (and) to actually bring employers onto the unit to see our students doing what they have learned.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> <\/p>\n TDCJ inmates of the Crain and Hilltop Units at Gatesville demonstrate their welding skills Wednesday during a career fair to demonstrate their skills to prospective employers.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n One of the inmates showcasing the job skills she has learned in prison was Lana Kristine O\u2019Connell, a 34-year-old former Grand Prairie resident serving the sixth year of a 10-year sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She has gone through the electrical trades and advanced electrical programs and hopes to go to work in industrial maintenance someday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n O\u2019Connell, who is up for her annual parole review in six months, said earning her high school diploma in prison and getting certified to do electrical work has given her new hope for a successful future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt definitely has,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was tricky at first. Electricity is scary, especially when you first come in. But they started from the ground up with the theory and the practice, and you learn each step. It became more and more interesting as I went along.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI never went to school when I was in the free world \u2014 before I was arrested \u2014 because I always thought, \u2018Paperwork.\u2019 I always thought the reason you go to school was to do paperwork. To be somebody\u2019s boss. That\u2019s not what I want to do. I don\u2019t want to be anybody\u2019s boss. I don\u2019t want to do paperwork. I don\u2019t want to sit at a desk. So you think you don\u2019t need school. Then you do a trade school and you learn that you can put your hands into something and you can learn how something works. You start thinking electrical engineer; mechanical engineer. These are good-paying jobs, and it starts with your hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI really enjoy it. This is what I want to do in the world. Having all the certificates and the knowledge and feeling comfortable with it. Now I have something I feel I can build on in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
\n John Clark | Herald<\/span>
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