The Associated Press has an article on an Indiana Department of Correction program administering a federal grant to train inmates as coal miners.
Vincennes University will hold coal mining classes for three to 15 students at the medium-security Branchville Correctional Facility in southern Indiana.
The state Department of Correction said the school will offer classes in underground and surface mining. Prison staff will review inmate records and assess career interest surveys to determine which offenders can participate.
I don’t know that coal mining is the most flexible skill set you could give a guy, but it is important to make sure prisoners are employable when they get out. I say this, not out of sympathy for them especially, but because the rest of us are better off when folks who are willing to commit crimes when they get desperate have some chance of becoming productive members of society instead. Additionally, it seems to me that a fair amount of these folks get into trouble simply because their lives are so chaotic. Jobs provide structure for those who can muster up the discipline to stick with them.
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