Dane County Launches Job-Training Program For Jail Inmates

Dane County is launching a new 18-month intensive job training program for jail inmates that will strive to help participants find jobs before their release.

Thanks to a $500,000 federal grant, the new jail-based job center will provide 100 inmates with job training and links to local employers. It’s modeled on a Department of Corrections program called Windows to Work that prepares prison inmates for the working world.

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney said the goal is to give inmates who are most likely to commit new crimes tools they can use to get out and stay out.

“When we invest billions, billions of dollars each year in our criminal justice incarceration system, we should be investing — as we are here with this grant for $500,000 — to address programming that allows people to be successful when they re-enter the community,” said Mahoney.

Mahoney said similar programs in other parts of the country have proved successful in reducing recidivism.

Jail staff will be trained to be job coaches and deliver an intensive curriculum that covers jobs in advanced manufacturing, clinical bio technology, construction and the customer service and hospitality industry.

The executive director of the Workforce Development board, Pat Schramm said for inmates participating in the program, it will be like a full-time job.

“So whenever they have down time, they’ll either be in sessions learning or in sessions doing homework, in individual coaching. It’s really pretty intensive for that time pre-release,” said Schramm.

Once the inmates are released, Schramm said partner agencies in the community will provide wrap-around support programs to help them find and keep a job.

The current grant funding for the program will run out in 18 months, but Sheriff Mahoney said because re-entry programs like this are a priority for federal policymakers, there’s a good chance the grant can be renewed. He said that eventually, if the program can prove it’s really saving money by reducing recidivism, then the state and county might step in and cover the cost of making it a permanent part of jail funding.