The Jefferson County Correctional Institute is adding 10 beds to its transition center. The building began as the weight room of the old Louisville Middle School. County Administrator Jerry Coalson said the room will be torn down. Instead, inmates took it apart and reassembled it at the prison as an extension of the center.
Venus Carr, the transition center coordinator, said several of the men who had completed the program at the center had been able to buy homes and continue to live in the area.
When JCCI Director Calvin Oliphant saw transition centers elsewhere, he thought one might work in Jefferson County. He presented a proposal to the Jefferson Board of Commissioners; and, they approved.
Coalson said that in addition to using another building to create the expansion, other excess building materials are being used along with inmate labor.
Jefferson County Commission Chairman Mitchell McGraw said the transition center provides inmates, called residents once they enter the program, another way to re-enter the workforce. The program helps local industry by providing workers and provides residents with work experience.
When Oliphant presented his idea for the transition center to the commission, McGraw said the approval was “a unanimous decision.” The President congratulated Oliphant, Deputy Warden Stanley Williams and prison staff.
“(The Transition Center) is a very successful program, 100% success. It’s a win-win situation,” McGraw said.
Residents use the money they earn to pay for room and board, buy personal items from area stores, and even set aside money from their paychecks so they have what Oliphant calls “a nest egg” when they complete the program.
Oliphant said there would be no problem finding men for the additional 10 beds once the extension opens. Carr said she has a list of inmates who want to participate in the program.
There are requirements to enter the halfway house, for example the inmate must have between 12 months and 18 months remaining on their sentence and not be convicted of a violent crime.
About 126 men have completed the program since it began in early 2019. Only one “ran away,” Carr said. “If they run away, they get an additional five years to their sentence.” These people are no longer eligible for the transition center.
When the expansion opens, it will accommodate up to 10 residents and will have a bathroom with showers as well as an office for Carr. The center will then be able to accommodate up to 36 residents.
“Overall it was a really good program,” Oliphant said.
