There are a lot of myths about the Federal Prison system but one of the main myths to me is about the education system. The last three Federal prisons I’ve been to all claim to have beneficial educational programs for job training. That would be awesome if they were actually up to date and had people teaching them. Every book they issue you are all from the 1980s. So this makes me wonder, where is all the government money that is allocated for education? My plan when I get out is to run my own welding business. There is so much opportunity out there for anyone who knows how to weld but there are only a couple prisons that actual get you certified in welding. They do have HVAC which is very helpful but most of the instructors don’t even care to actually teach the class. There are so many different things the Federal Prison system could do if they actually WANTED to rehabilitate us. The more money the prison saves the bigger the bonus the warden gets. So in turn all the educational supplies get cut along with the food and everything else. I went to chow today and got a serving of green beans and a tiny scoop of chicken with a tiny scoop of potato salad. It seems to be getting worse and worse. I feel bad for the people who do not have money on their books to buy food at the store. Without funds for commissary you starve in here. I had no clue how corrupt the Federal Prison systems actually was until I landed here and that’s the problem, No one sees the things go on first hand like we do so no one knows about it. If there were some actual rehabilitative job training programs here I know the recidivism rates would be so much lower. There are 2000 inmates at this prison and NO REAL job training classes that will actually help a man succeed once he leaves this place and they know this but they don’t care. As long as the government thinks they are running legit vocational training then they will keep throwing money at them. If they would actually use that money, startup classes that will actually help us, buy updated books, supplies, and hire staff that actually want to teach it would make the recidivism rates drop so much and it would give us the real job training we need once we get out.
— Kyle S.