I used to think prison jobs were pointless until I saw the woodworking shop at Bullock County

I visited the minimum security unit outside Montgomery 3 months ago and again last week. The first time the guys were just sitting around doing nothing. This time they had a full woodworking shop running, making furniture for the county offices. 12 guys had been in the program 6 months and 4 of them got job offers from a local cabinet shop when they get out. What kind of job programs have you seen actually work inside?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_fiona1mo agoTop Commenter

Yeah and the key is they got actual job offers out of it. That's the part most programs miss, they train people on stuff nobody's hiring for.

claire_davis311mo ago

You said "they train people on stuff nobody's hiring for" and I gotta push back on that a little. A lot of these programs actually do teach skills that are in demand, like IT support, coding basics, or medical billing. The real issue is more about how fast the job market changes. By the time someone finishes a 6 month course, the specific tech or software they learned might already be old news. So it's not that the training is useless, it's that it doesn't always keep up with what employers need right now. But there are programs out there that partner with companies to update their curriculum, so it's more about picking the right one.

finleyl391mo ago

Yeah but my cousin took a welding course and now he's fixing sprinkler systems.