Muscogee County Prison inmate Anthony Anglin began serving a sentence for robbery in 2016. With a tentative parole date next August, he’s been taking classes – welding, plumbing, logistics, forklift operation and OSHA training – to prepare for life on the outside.
“It makes me feel like I have a better chance at being able to succeed rather than turning this into a revolving door,” he says. Anglin is an active participant in a Columbus-Muscogee County initiative that reframes incarceration as an opportunity for workforce development. The Restoration of Returning Citizens program reduces recidivism, strengthens the workforce and improves public safety. It also saves the city of Columbus nearly $5.3 million annually in labor costs.
Muscogee County Prison partners with Columbus Technical College to offer skills training to offenders in high-demand fields where unemployment remains high in the surrounding community – including carpentry, construction and welding. More recently, the prison expanded its offerings to include forklift safety/OSHA and logistics programs. Offenders learn “the whole operation of trucking,” says Muscogee County Prison Warden Herbert Walker III, and can even earn their commercial driver’s licenses.
Educational Offering: Muscogee County Prison now offers forklift training to inmates as part of its Restoration of Returning Citizens program | Photo credit: Contributed
Anglin is most excited about welding, citing good pay and strong demand. “It’s really given me a positive outlook on things,” he says.
Inmate Kenneth Prather has tried to sign up for welding classes, but they’ve been full. In the meantime, Prather, who is up for parole in 2031, completed logistics, plumbing and OSHA classes.
“I’m just trying to better myself for the future,” he says. “I want to be prepared for anything.”
He also says the classes offer a break from the negativity of the prison dorms and help him “feel more normal.” Soft skills training is also part of the curriculum, including courses such as Motivation for Change, Diplomacy and even Moral Reconation Therapy, a behavioral treatment program that aims to improve moral reasoning and decision-making.
“Not only are they getting credit from the Georgia Department of Corrections, but they’re getting actual certifications through Columbus Tech,” says Normae Beecham, deputy warden of administration at Muscogee County Prison.
Program costs vary – from $750 per student for a fast-track residential plumbing program to $2,105 for the shielded metal arc welding program. The classes are funded through a crime prevention grant from the city of Columbus, Walker says. Everyone from the prison’s counseling staff to security, who must be present during classes, is involved in the program.
“From the bottom to the top, we’re all committed to the mission and the vision to get these offenders skilled, educated and ready for re-entry,” Beecham says.
To enroll in the program, offenders yet to graduate from high school must also be working toward their GED. For the past two years, Muscogee County Prison has been recognized by the Georgia Department of Corrections for awarding the most GEDs of any of Georgia’s county prisons, says Walker. “It helps give them a bigger leap to the door of rejoining civilians in the civilian world,” he says.
The prison is also in talks with various partners about starting beekeeping and animal control training programs, Walker says.