“Training and Supporting Ex-Offenders as Entrepreneurs Project”
A short time ago, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections received a federal grant to facilitate the successful re-entry of offenders through a programmatic series of intensive life-skills curricula, entrepreneurial training, and focused community support. The ultimate goal of the project, of course, is to help reduce the mammoth recidivism rate of offenders. Overcrowded penal facilities coupled with spiraling costs to maintain offender populations have caused a variety of criminal justice entities to research, review, and implement alternatives with bona fide expectations of stemming the tide. Fortunately, this new and exciting entrepreneurial project can play a unique role in helping to satisfy the program’s overall objectives.
This project seeks to provide training to a minimum of 449 offenders. The offenders/ participants will be selected from several penal facilities-both male and female. The original facilities chosen to participate are as follows:
|
FACILITY
|
SECURITY LEVEL
|
GENDER
|
1ST YEAR
|
2ND YEAR
|
3RD YEAR
|
TOTAL BY SECURITY LEVEL
|
|
1
|
MINIMUM
|
MALE
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
45
|
|
2
|
MINIMUM
|
MALE
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
45
|
|
3
|
MINIMUM
|
MALE
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
45
|
|
4
|
MINIMUM
|
FEMALE
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
45
|
|
5
|
COMMUNITY
|
FEMALE
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
45
|
|
6
|
COMMUNITY
|
FEMALE
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
45
|
|
7
|
MEDIUM
|
MALE
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
4
|
|
8
|
MEDIUM
|
MALE
|
|
12
|
12
|
24
|
|
9
|
MEDIUM
|
MALE
|
|
12
|
12
|
24
|
|
10
|
MEDIUM
|
MALE
|
|
12
|
12
|
24
|
|
11
|
MEDIUM
|
MALE
|
|
12
|
12
|
24
|
|
12
|
MEDIUM
|
FEMALE
|
|
12
|
12
|
24
|
|
13
|
MAXIMUM
|
MALE
|
|
|
7
|
7
|
|
14
|
MAXIMUM
|
FEMALE
|
|
|
7
|
7
|
|
TOTAL
|
|
|
105
|
165
|
179
|
449
|
