ONTARIO – Dreams are being made inside a mobile classroom parked near the medium security unit at Snake River Correctional Institution.
Inside, a half dozen inmates sit inside six heavy equipment simulators and practice digging trenches, loading a dump truck or lifting barrels. The virtual system is comparable to flight simulators used to train pilots.
“For me to have this opportunity is life changing,” said inmate Joshua Vanbuskirk.
The training program awards heavy-equipment operator certifications through Baker Technical Institute.
The mobile classroom, owned by Baker Technical, prepares inmates with a skill and the certifications to get a job.
“I believe I will get a good paying job that will help curb recidivism,” said inmate Jeff Patton.
The training by the Baker Technical is paid for through a $900,000 grant from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance Second Chance Act to the state Corrections Department.
Baker Technical collaborates with employers across eastern Oregon to furnish training in such fields as welding, nursing, construction, engineering and agriculture.
The simulators precisely mimic the real-time actions of heavy equipment. When Vanbuskirk demonstrated the dump truck program on the simulator, he sat in a cab-like structure and focused on a huge screen where a virtual display represented the truck. As he steered the truck through several obstacles, including crossing a bridge, his cab moved or shifted with the motions of the tires.
“It is opening a lot of doors for me,” Vanbuskirik said of the training.
The training isn’t accessible to all medium-security inmates. In fact, the process to get into the training is strict, said Patton.
“We had to write an essay on our motivation for wanting to be in the program,” he said.
Only 12 of the 160 medium-security inmates were selected for the five-week training. The first cohort of inmates began to train Nov. 25.
Vanbuskirk said the training will help him “further my knowledge and gain a career I love.”
The course isn’t easy, he said.
“It is so challenging in so many different aspects,” he said.
The course involves a three-hour class in the morning and a three-hour session in the afternoon. Each inmate is tested on their ability with various pieces of heavy equipment and they gain the same type of certification available in the civilian world.
Patton said the training is second to none.
“I am at a point where I am ready to make better decisions so the training came at a perfect time,” said Patton.
The training is a good way to help inmates shift from a prison environment, said Amber Campbell, prison spokesperson
“This program has high value to adults in custody to help them prepare for a successful transition back to their communities. By gaining this certification and these job skills they will be more likely able to gain employment in a high-demand occupation,” said Campbell.
News tip? Contact reporter Pat Caldwell at [email protected]
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