High School to Get Rebuilt Computers

Thanks to 18 inmates of the Todd Road Jail, Moorpark High School will be getting about 40 computers.

The computers, most of them discarded by the county, were refurbished by inmates of the jail in Santa Paula, Sheriff’s Department Capt. Keith Parks said.

The computer program is designed to teach inmates technology skills.

The Todd Road Jail program refurbishes about 100 computers a year, Parks said. In the case of Moorpark High’s refurbished machines, Ventura County had had planned to sell them for scrap, he said. While they may be too slow for the county’s tastes, the machines, most of them 386s, work just fine for classroom purposes, he said.

The jail program works with a San Diego-based Detwiler Foundation, which gathers surplus machines from the public and private sector and gives them to jails for inmates to refurbish for schools.

Moorpark Unified was one of two school districts to get new computers from the jail. The other, Ventura Unified School District, received 50 computers.

Anyone interested in donating computers should call 933-8532, Parks said.