CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Greene County Inmate Program A Model For Other Counties

The Greeneville Sun - 7/4/2018

Other counties in Tennessee are modeling programs after the Correctional Career Pathways program offered to inmates by the Greene County Sheriff's Department.

The innovative program has been so successful that other counties have received grants to replicate it. On Thursday and Friday, a Correctional Career Pathways Leadership Workshop was held at the General Morgan Inn.

The Correctional Pathways program, initiated by Sheriff Pat Hankins, helps Greene County Detention Center and workhouse inmates get high school equivalency diplomas and assists them in obtaining employment, along with learning life skills.

Local partners include SumiRiko Tennessee Inc. and A Services Group LLC temporary staffing, known as ASG.

The sheriff's departmenwt received a $25,000 startup grant for the program in 2016.

On Thursday and Friday, a Correctional Career Pathways Leadership Workshop was held at the General Morgan Inn.

The presenter was Kim Gass, CCP technical specialist with the Tennessee Institute of Public Health and also a staff member at the Greene Technology Center.

Sponsors for the workshop include the Appalachian Regional Commission, the TIPH, The College of Public Health at East Tennesee State University, the East Tennessee Foundation and the Niswonger Foundation.

Ginny Kidwell, executive director for the TIPH at East Tennessee State University, said in a news release that the organization received a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission "to replicate and implement the Greene County sheriff's Correctional Career Pathways program in three distressed Tennessee Counties." The grantees are Campbell, Grundy and Scott counties.

Teams from each of the counties attended last week's workshop.

Hankins has been an advocate of the program since becoming sheriff in 2014. He said a number of former inmates are now working full-time at jobs they were placed in through the program.

Interest in CCP reaches beyond the state border.

"We have even been to other states to teach this program. It works great for Greene County and it changes lives," Hankins said.

He believes that inmates should be taught skills to improve their lives while incarcerated so they do not return to jail.

"It's not just putting someone in jail. When they come out they become productive citizens," Hankins said. "It makes that person become a productive citizen."

The recidivism rate for inmates who complete the 40-hour Correctional Career Pathways program is considerably lower than that in the general inmate population, said Roger Willett, jail and workhouse administrator.

Kidwell welcomed participants in the workshop and the group went to the Greene CountySheriff's Department Education Center, a converted mobile home next to the workhouse that serves as a classroom. At the education center, Gass outlined the Greene County CCP program model.

The leadership team for the program includes Hankins, Chief Deputy Ray Allen Jr., Willett, Greene County Detention Center Capt. John Key, human resources managers from SumiRiko and ASG, and Gass and instructor Debbie Fillers.

According to a handout distributed to workshop participants, the mission of the CCP program is reducing recidivism rates; decreasing post-release risky behaviors on an impulsive behavior scale that includes lack of premeditation and sensation seeking; and increasing mindfulness, self-control and emotional regulation.

Inmates are assessed using a test of self-conscious affect, a self-control scale and a "five facet mindfulness questionnaire."

Topics covered by presenters included "Behavioral Intervention" and "Getting Down To Business: Contract, Reporting, Invoicing, Site Visits and Evaluations."

Taxpayers also benefit from the program. A percentage of the money earned by the employed inmates is set aside to pay off court-ordered costs, fines and restitution.

"We pay for partial salary for the instructor and fuel. It's minimal what we're paying for the program because we're more than making it back in what we (receive) in fines and fees," Willett said.

Program participation encourages inmates to be on their best behavior in jail and allows them to save money they can use to make a fresh start, coordinators said. The success of the program is what has drawn interest from other counties.

"I think it shows that people are looking at alternatives to inmate recidivism in their counties," Willett said. "I think they look at the success of our program and want something for their own counties."

About 120 inmates have completed the class. Of that number, about 70 have been employed at SumiRiko since the inception of the program, Willett said.

"A jail is a revolving door and we see the same people in and out, in and out and it's because when they get out they are back in the same cycle they were in," Hankins recently said. "We're trying to break that cycle."

Inmates who have earned trustee status and have no discipline issues are among those who may be eligible for the program.

"It's a significant factor in not going back to jail if we can get them to work," Willett said.

Gass recently characterized the Correctional Career Pathways program as "a journey to hope."

"Ultimately, our goal is not to be just in the county working but to (give participants) hope and pay back the county and have them saving money," she said.

Hankins said the CCP program being offered in Greene County continues to thrive and attract attention from elsewhere in the state.

"It is great to be associated with a program like this," he said.