Dental lab program aims to help inmates find jobs

Tag : Dental Resins

They're not just biding their time. They're plying a trade.
"I could see myself going into this," said Amber Haviland, aninmate from Wausau.
Between fears that employers are going to lack skilled workers andconcerns over record prison populations, attention is turning toinmates for work force development.
⬢ Last week, President Bush signed the Second Chance Act, nearlyunanimously passed in Congress, which raises rehabilitation as apriority in the justice system and authorizes $165 million a yearto help inmates succeed after they're released. Part of the programis modeled after a federal Prison Re-Entry Initiative involvingMilwaukee's Word of Hope Ministries Inc.
⬢ Next month, the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Boardbegins a one-year $400,000 pilot to train and employ workers withlittle job experience, putting special emphasis on recentlyreleased inmates - dozens of whom return to the community weekly.
⬢ As part of a four-city, $5.4 million experiment by the JoyceFoundation, Milwaukee's New Hope Project is using job subsidies tohelp parolees make the transition from imprisonment to employment.
"Whatever our feelings are about people who commit crimes, ourpublic safety and our economic well-being are better served bymaking sure they have employable skills," said Julie Kerksick,executive director of New Hope.
At Taycheedah, authorities hope that inmates training to be dentallaboratory technicians will, after they're released, find decentjobs that keep them from returning.
"To be able to be law-abiding citizens when they get out there,they have to make a wage and take care of their families," saidCathy Jess, Taycheedah's warden. "So that's important that they geta job skill, and we prepare them for that day that they step backout there. We all want them to be successful when they get outthere because they're going to be our neighbors."
Dental lab techs earn nearly $37,000 a year on average statewide,and more than $40,000 in Milwaukee County, according to Departmentof Workforce Development data.
Inmates cost the state almost $30,000 a year, according to theDepartment of Corrections, and more than $36,000 at Taycheedah.
"That is an expense to us, and it's in the state's best interest toinvest in getting individuals trained," said Roberta Gassman,secretary of the Department of Workforce Development.
The dental lab tech program at Taycheedah began three years ago asa joint venture involving the departments of Corrections andWorkforce Development and Moraine Park Technical College, whichcertifies the instruction. Not counting overhead, the program costnearly $48,000 in supervision, supplies and services last year.
Not only can the training improve inmates' employment prospects,but production from the lab takes a bite out of the state's costsfor prisoner dental care.
Once trained, inmates can work in Taycheedah's lab making denturesfor other state inmates. Prosthetics made at Taycheedah cost thestate from 18% to 81% of what it would pay a private dental lab forthe same work, said Barbara De Lap, dental director for theDepartment of Corrections.
The savings help sustain the dental lab tech program, said GaryGrueter, Taycheedah's education director.
Last year, the Taycheedah lab produced 260 out of the more than1,100 dentures that Wisconsin provided to inmates - a number that'sexpected to grow with the aging of the prison population. Rise in opportunities
In fact, the graying of America is what's behind the rise inopportunities for dental lab techs, and fewer schools appear to beoffering training, said Prof. Gerald Ziebert, director of theprosthodontics program at the Marquette University School ofDentistry.
Robert Popp, president of Popp Dental Laboratory Inc., helpeddesign and equip the Taycheedah lab and is employing two of theprogram's first graduates while they're on work release.
"The two that we have hired are still in the prison system, and I'msure that this has presented them an opportunity to be out of thatenvironment," said Popp, who has facilities in Racine andGreendale.
"I found these people to be very energetic and (have) a greatattitude when they come to work because their other option isn'tthat great," Popp said. "They're very focused on what they do."
At the Taycheedah lab, Haviland shows pride in her work as shepatiently adjusts a set of upper dentures to match a set of lowers.
"It breaks up the monotony and the tedium of the day becauseeverything's the same thing every day. It helps you expand yourhorizons," said Haviland, who arrived at Taycheedah last August ona burglary conviction and has a release date of 2011.
"It's good to be productive in prison. Not just come here and wastetime, you know?" Haviland said. "I've wasted enough of my time."