Female Offender Training and Services

The Skills Centers School System of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education is committed to providing quality training to female offenders located at Mabel Bassett and Dr. Eddie Warrior Corrections Centers. To this end, career majors are offered in industries that will enable students to obtain gainful employment upon release from incarceration. Along with the occupational training, these programs provide life and employability skills development, Key Train remediation, and the ACT Work Keys assessment. The Work Keys assessment offers students an opportunity to earn an industry-recognized Career Readiness Certificate.

Career majors are open-entry/controlled-exit, which means offenders can be enrolled into training as students graduate. Program length is dependent upon student ability and competency attainment. Potential students are targeted for enrollment during their final year of incarceration. The general guideline for enrollment is a “preferred” score of 6.0 on the TABE test. Also, due to the competition for employment once released, potential students are “encouraged” to obtain a GED or high school diploma prior to enrollment.

The Skills Centers have worked to ensure graduates can enter productive work once released from prison. In recent years, the Skills Centers have maintained job placement rates in excess of 90 percent for program graduates. The majority of these placements were in jobs related to the training the students received. The average wage-at-entry continues to rise as business and industry partners become more familiar with the training provided to these students.

Eddie Warrior Corrections Center
Manufacturing

Transportation, Distribution, Logistics and Manufacturing Academy

• Using computer-based curricula, students progress through Basic Computer training, WASP Inventory control methods and Lean Manufacturing Concepts to prepare for employment in manufacturing. Students enrolled in the Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics portion of the program will learn warehousing and material handling methods as well as all aspects of warehouse safety and maintenance. All students receive hands-on training in the use of tools, and precision-measuring devices are integrated into various modules. In addition, the student will gain certifications in Forklift Operation, and the OSHA 10 hour industry recognized safety program. The enrollment capacity for this program is 30 students and program length is 6-8 months.
  
  This training began on October 27, 2008. This program began as a public/private partnership and was partially funded by a grant from the George Kaiser Family Foundation, a private foundation in the Tulsa, Oklahoma community.
  
  

Mabel Bassett Corrections Center
Licensed Trades

• The Licensed Trades program prepares female students for employment in maintenance or construction by teaching them industry specific competencies. Students get hands-on experience with industry specific equipment. The program length is 8-12 months.