Community Groups, Milwaukee County Applaud Prison Training Programs

A new report from Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele says new education and job training programs for inmates at the County House of Corrections are having a positive impact on inmates.

The report says since the new programs were begun a year ago, more than 200 inmates have competed GED certificates and another 225 have received training in restaurant food safety skills and forklift operation. Abele credits the new jail superintendent Mike Hafeman with the successes.

Reverend Joe Ellwanger of the Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope, a prison reform group, says the county initially dragged its feet on implementation. He credits persistent pressure from his group, as well as former County Supervisor Nikiya Harris – who is now a state senator – in implementing the changes.

“Nikiya Harris led the charge for us and with us,” said Ellwanger. “So we brought it about earlier than either the county executive or the majority of the supervisors at that time thought that it could be done.”

Ellwanger says the programs now in place for Milwaukee jail inmates should be a model for other counties. He says addressing the needs of inmates at the jail level will eventually help reduce the prison population.

“Any person who gets into the House of Corrections is going to go home with a few more positive things in their quiver to deal with the issues at home — finding a job, keeping a job and of course it’s going to keep some people from re-offending and getting into the state prison system,” said Ellwanger.

The new programs also include a county roads and parks clean-up project that allows inmates to reduce their sentences by doing trash removal and landscaping work. That cleanup program has already saved the county $90,000.