A recent video detailed how the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has helped former prison inmates get hands-on crew experience in landscaping, graffiti removal, rest area cleaning, and litter pickups as part of a job skills program aimed at putting them on the path to gainful employment.
[Above photo by KYTC]
Since 2019, the agency has partnered with the Center for Employment Opportunities in its District 5 and District 6 regions to provide employment services exclusively to individuals who have recently returned home from incarceration.
“They send us a crew every day that weather allows that hit some of these areas that our [KYTC] crews don’t have the resources to get to as much as they may need to, particularly in the Louisville area,” explained Matt Bullock, KYTC District 5 chief engineer, in the video.
According to Kentucky’s Department of Corrections, more than 13,100 individuals are released from prison annually after completing their sentence and one of the most frequent barriers to successful reentry in the U.S. is the lack of employment.
Governor Andy Beshear (D) said such job programs similar to KTYC’s and other Kentucky agencies can help support the state’s booming economy and fuel its workforce while reducing the chances of someone returning to prison.
“My faith teaches me that there are second chances in this life and that we are all our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers,” he stressed. “I am proud of the work we have done to grow a strong economy and achieve a historically low recidivism rate, and today we are doing even more to support job growth with a new Prison-to-Work Pipeline program and a virtual learning job skills program for inmates returning to society.”
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