NCJ Number
80934
Date Published
1981
Length
48 pages
Annotation
This report describes the purposes and nature of the vocational education offered to inmates of California correctional facilities and summarizes the content and enrollment of programs in about 50 occupational areas for fiscal years 1978-82.
Abstract
The California Department of Corrections has based its vocational education programs on the beliefs that inmates taking part in training programs should have a chance to acquire sufficient job-related skills to become employed, that work has intrinsic value, and that programs should be available to all inmates who can benefit from them. The Department also believes in providing equal opportunity and in a systematic planning process. The Department's vocational education programs consist of 116 shops and 4 skill centers. The programs are conducted by credentialed instructors and are offered on a flexible basis to allow students to enter, progress, and leave as dictated by their specific needs. Courses use a modular system and progress from simple to complex operations. Five hundred hours are considered the minimum amount of training to develop basic skills, while 1,000 hours are deemed sufficient for entry into the postrelease job market. The vocational education programs are offered in five areas; agricultural education, health occupations education, office occupations, technical education, and trade and industrial occupations. Over 2,000 students are enrolled in vocational education annually; about 600 receive certificates of completion each year. About three-quarters of the programs are in trade and industrial occupations, which entail the layout designing, producing, processing, assembling, testing, maintaining, servicing, or repairing of any product or commodity. For each program, a brief summary of course content is accompanied by statistics on enrollment, completions, and placements. Photographs, a map cost data, a summary of vocational guidance and counseling efforts, and a summary of vocational education planning priorities for 1978-82 are provided.