AASHTO Journal - Idaho State Agencies Give Inmates Work Experience

The Idaho Transportation Department is one of several state agencies that employs non-violent inmates for a variety of tasks while at the same time providing them with valuable work experience once they are released from prison.

[Above photo by the ITD]

Each summer, ITD becomes one of the job alternatives offered to non-violent inmates in certain minimum-security facilities operated by the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC).

This past summer, in east Idaho, inmates at the St. Anthony Work Camp – known as “Red Shirts” – assisted with bridge repairs in Ashton, hazardous tree removal on State Highway 31, fencing in Dubois, geological drilling efforts district-wide, utility and landscaping improvements in Rigby and more.

ITD said it paid $50,000 to IDOC for two months of work from a 10-man crew and guard, with ITD in turn serving as a mentor for learning skills the inmates can “use forever,” explained Korb Hansen, ITD facilities manager.

“The whole idea behind the work camp is to give them skills that they can use to help them become effective pillars of society,” Hansen said in a statement.

ITD submits its crew needs in eastern Idaho for the year to IDOC in advance of the working season. Those overseeing the program, such as Hansen, also attend a spring training where IDOC states the expectations for working with inmates.

From that point on, ITD schedules what gets done when and where over the course of the two months that the Red Shirts are committed. This allows all eight east Idaho foremen and others to utilize the extra hands efficiently.

“It would take just our crew months or years to get done what they helped us do in just a few weeks,” noted Ray McMinn, an ITD operations technician.

Several state departments of transportation are involved in similar initiatives.

For example, a program started by the North Carolina Department of Transportation in 2024 is helping formerly incarcerated individuals secure jobs on transportation work crews and get identification cards to access housing and healthcare more easily.

The agency’s Transitional Work Pilot program – created in January 2024 as a result of Executive Order 303 issued by former Governor Roy Cooper (D) and continued under Governor Josh Stein (D) – aims to make reentry to the workforce easier for people who are released from North Carolina prisons each year.

Other state agencies are improving their workforce development programs as part of the same executive order, including: the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

Meanwhile, a now five-year-old program started by the Iowa Department of Transportation helps incarcerated individuals regain their driving privileges before leaving the state’s prison system – an effort started to reduce the chances of recidivism, the agency said.

Started as a pilot program in 2020 in partnership with the Iowa Department of Corrections, the Iowa DOT’s Mobility Manager program within the agency’s Motor Vehicle Division’s Customer Services Bureau provides several driving services through five onsite offices and two remote arrangements.

Finally, a year-old video details 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.

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.