Monday, May 17, 2010

Hard Times Cafe

The Hard Times Cafe at the Draper Prison site recently opened to the public. See the story as it aired on Fox13 News here.

Corrections Staff Finishes Inmate-Built Home




DRAPER, Utah — Prisoners built it, and a handful of Utah Department of Corrections employees added the finishing touches.

The modest rambler, just off Orem’s 1200 North and State Street, now hosts a family that had been suffering from health and credit issues and was stuck in a substandard and unsafe apartment. And it all started with an unlikely crew of prison inmates. For several months, they constructed this place for the family to call home.

Over the course of those months, select groups of the state’s lowest-risk offenders were transported daily to and from the Orem home-building site under the supervision of Department of Corrections officers. The crews consisted of convicted drug and property offenders – all who readily acknowledge their mistakes and wish to start anew. By the end of the project, the inmate workers had learned valuable skills that very well could help them land permanent jobs as soon as they finished serving their time in prison.

Inmate Ron Eckhardt has been locked up since 2002. He had no experience in construction when he began building the home in January. But by the time it was finished, he knew how to roof and side a house.

“These are going to be some good skills that I plan on using when I get out,” Eckhardt said, noting that he is slated for a November parole date and would like to start a real estate business when he is released. “This whole experience has helped prepare me for life back in society.”

Eckhardt said he was shocked the first time he traded prison doors, handcuffs and barbed-wire fences for blue skies and a tool box.

Fellow inmate Kevin Strong said expects he will become an electrician or a plumber when he is released at the end of November. Noting that he plans to stay out of prison, Strong said being motivated and getting a job are the biggest challenges he faces – but he anticipates this home building project will help him battle both of these underlying issues.

The inmates were hired on to the prison’s home-building positions through Utah Correctional Industries and paid a stipend of approximately $1 per hour. They were regularly evaluated to mirror a real-world work environment.

Though the home was formally handed over to the families during a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month, a large dirt mound has sat outside ever since. Several Department of Corrections employees will volunteer their time on Friday to polish off the project by landscaping the front yard. The workers will either use their day off to work on the project, or they will donate leave hours to spend time away from the office.UCI REACH boss Kelly Willey noted that most of the inmates made just one mistake in life, and they’re all getting out of prison at some point so it’s best to prepare them for that date.

Habitat For Humanity Director Kena Mathews awarded the group a special honor at a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony and noted, “This is just an example of good people coming together to provide for these families.”

The service project is part of the Department’s 2010 Corrections Week, focused on “paying it forward.” The Department has organized several charitable drives throughout the week and has encouraged its hard-working staff to donate free time away from the job to help their community – whether through official Department events, or their individual efforts.

During the week, Corrections employees also donated blood to MountainStar Blood Services and the American Red Cross, held raise money for the Special Olympics, and framed and sheet-rocked a second home in conjunction with Habitat For Humanity.

What are UCI and REACH?

Utah Correctional Industries gives state inmates on-the-job training experience while providing products and services to public agencies. These jobs provide offenders the experience they need to lead healthy and productive lifestyles when they leave the prison and re-enter society. The jobs also maintain a safer prison environment by replacing idle time with productive activity. Offenders must be hired by UCI, have a parole date within three years, and have demonstrated extended, exceptional behavior while in the institution to earn the privilege of leaving the prison to work on off-site projects. UCI is completely self-supported, meaning any income generated by the goods and services goes back toward funding the program itself. UCI provides everything from furniture and clothing to signs and homes. All of the work either matches or exceeds industry standards.

The Rehabilitation through Affordably Constructed Housing (REACH) project builds homes for organizations such as Habitat For Humanity and the Utah Housing Corporation. The group often builds homes on-site at the prison and ships them out. REACH has built three homes for Habitat For Humanity and more than 30 for the Utah Housing Corporation.


(TOP: Corrections Executive Director Tom Patterson and Central Utah Correctional Facility Maintenance Crew member Bud Park haul buckets and wheelbarrows full of dirt to plant trees as part of a Habitat For Humanity project.)

(MIDDLE: Draper Prison Warden Steve Turley, Corrections Executive Director Tom Patterson and Training Academy Director Dennis Hutchinson install sheetrock in a home as part of a Habitat For Humanity project.)

(BOTTOM: Corrections Deputy Director Mike Haddon and Training Coordinator Kurt Candalot place sheetrock in a home as part of a Habitat For Humanity project.)

Read the Daily Universe story here

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Inmate Library Use

Read The Salt Lake Tribune's story on male and female inmates learning through reading at the prison's various libraries.


To learn more about donating books and the importance of libraries in prison, see this video produced by a Salt Lake Community College class.