Jail Program Gives Inmates Something to Build With

Israel Perez has built concrete housing foundations since he was 14, but he never learned the carpentry and skills to frame a house until he was sentenced to Orange County Jail.

Perez is scheduled to be released from jail today in Santa Ana, after serving a seven-month sentence for failure to pay child support. For six of those months, he took college courses in home-building.

When he turns in his jail-issue denim uniform this morning, he will be handed a certificate from Rancho Santiago College that documents his achievement, just as if he had attended classes on the Santa Ana campus.

Perez, 38, is part of an innovative program started by the Sheriff’s Department one year ago, in part to relieve the county’s overcrowded jails by reducing recidivism.

“I just picked up four or five different trades,” Perez said last week. “I can go out and bid on a job right now, maybe try and get a framing job.”

Perez, 38, said the home-building course also helped him cope with the pressures of life at the minimum-security James A. Musick Branch Jail in Irvine. “You come in here with a bad attitude, and instead of the stress of sitting around, this keeps your mind busy,” he said. “Stay busy, and the time will go faster.”

In July, the county first offered minimum- and medium-security inmates at its two branch jails--Musick and the Theo Lacey jail in Orange--the chance to take college-credit courses while incarcerated.

It was a perfect fit, in many ways. Instead of wasting time, inmates have a productive activity. Perez’s framing class, for example, built a shower facility for Musick inmates. In the welding class, the inmates repair tools used at the jail, and the sewing class makes jail clothes, blankets and dolls for county foster children.

Studies also show that the training increases the chances that inmates will be employed after release; consequently, they are less likely to return to jail.

Also, the instruction is coordinated by Rancho Santiago College at no cost to the county.

The instructors are Sheriff’s Department employees who have been trained and certified by the college. The state then pays the college, based on enrollment, and the college forwards money to the county for instructor pay and class costs.

Larry Bartosiewski, supervisor of corrections programs for the Sheriff’s Department, said there has been a waiting list for each class since the program started. Besides framing, cabinetmaking, sewing and welding have been offered to 436 male and female inmates.

But jail overcrowding has caused problems for the new program. Most of those who start the courses never finish them in jail, because the overcrowding forces the Sheriff’s Department to release many inmates early.

Bartosiewski said inmates at Musick are serving only about 57% of their sentences because of early releases and time off for good behavior. As a result, of the 436 who started the classes, just 73 received their certificates while still in jail.

Another 112 requested copies of their transcripts so they could continue the courses outside, he said. But the county does not have records of how many eventually graduated.

Still, officials consider the program a success. The program even received an award last month from the National Assn. of Counties for “ingenuity and creativity.”

The county and college hope to expand the courses next year. John Nixon, associate dean of continuing eduction at Rancho Santiago, said intermediate-level courses are planned, in addition to the subjects already taught at the jail. And the college is considering several new courses, including commercial food services and horticulture.

The college is deciding what courses to offer based on labor market surveys of the area. The county’s rapid growth has created a need for construction workers. Also, surveys show that jobs are available in restaurants and office buildings.

The horticulture class, for example, would teach inmates how to maintain office plants. Nixon said students would learn what plants need sun or shade, plant grafting and horticulture terminology.

“The information we’re getting is that they’re having a tough time finding these kind of people out there,” Nixon said. “Twenty-five years ago, agriculture would have been the demand market.”