Content area
Full text
The Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) in cooperation with Houston Community College (HCC) provides educational classes to inmates in the county jail facilities. HCC instructors provide vocational job training, literacy, and GED classes to hundreds of male and female inmates a day at four separate facilities. This comprehensive educational system is focused on helping inmates to achieve entry-level job skills in the shortest possible time.
The underlying philosophy of the program is that once participating inmates are equipped with the necessary life and professional skills, a reduction in recidivism will be the inevitable result. HCSO and HCC are now in their 33rd year as partners in education.
Workforce training classes offered by HCC include:
* Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
* Floor and Wall Covering
* Auto Paint and Body
* Graphic Arts
* Auto Mechanics
* Horticulture
* Building Maintenance
* Leather Trades
* Commercial Arts
* Offset Printing
* Consumer Electronics
* Tailoring and Alterations
* Culinary Arts
* Upholstery
* Drafting Technology
* Woodworking
Students who complete the 11 -week training program receive a certificate of completion that certifies that they have achieved a marketable job skill.
Adult Basic Education classes offered by HCC include:
* Business Technology
* General Equivalency Diploma (GED)
* English as a Second Language (ESL)
* Workplace Literacy
In Adult Basic Education (ABE) classes, the curriculum includes reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. HCC conducts educational achievement testing using the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) with new students for placement purposes.
Inmates are offered educational classes in GED, English as a Second Language (ESL), Workplace Literacy, and Business Technology depending on the inmate's basic skills level. Each class seeks to build on the inmate's basic skills and prepare him for the next class. Our inmate pass rate for the GED exam has averaged an extraordinary 70%.
First Jail to Be Certified in Inmate Education
The Harris County Sheriff's Office became the first county jail in the U.S. to receive the...