Inmates’ futures considered
Programs focus on life after prison
An inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Houtzdale walks through the warehouse operations area. Inmates at the all-male prison have many opportunities to pursue a skill or trade that they can use once they are released. Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec
Inmates walk through a gate in the outdoor area at SCI Houtzdale.
SCI at Houtzdale covers 77 acres.
Inmates have the opportunity to learn dozens of skills/trades including attending barber school.
Many of the inmates' health needs (including most dental work) are taken care of on site at SCI Houtzdale. Here, Dental Hygienist Sandra Beers takes an x-ray
Inmates at SCI have many options to pursue a skill /trade including preliminary training of dogs called the RUFF Program — training dogs for United Disability Services.
Many areas of the facility are covered with inmate-painted murals including the area where training takes place for the RUFF programs.
An inmate mows the lawn at SCI Houtzdale. A number of inmates have been housed at the facility since the day it opened in 1995. Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec
Many areas of the facility are covered with inmate-painted murals.
Inmates with physical, emotional or mental problems are housed in the Residential Treatment Unit.
An inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Houtzdale walks through the warehouse operations area. Inmates at the all-male prison have many opportunities to pursue a skill or trade that they can use once they are released. Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec
Inmates walk through a gate in the outdoor area at SCI Houtzdale.
SCI at Houtzdale covers 77 acres.
Inmates have the opportunity to learn dozens of skills/trades including attending barber school.
Many of the inmates' health needs (including most dental work) are taken care of on site at SCI Houtzdale. Here, Dental Hygienist Sandra Beers takes an x-ray
Inmates at SCI have many options to pursue a skill /trade including preliminary training of dogs called the RUFF Program — training dogs for United Disability Services.
Many areas of the facility are covered with inmate-painted murals including the area where training takes place for the RUFF programs.
An inmate mows the lawn at SCI Houtzdale. A number of inmates have been housed at the facility since the day it opened in 1995. Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec
Many areas of the facility are covered with inmate-painted murals.
Inmates with physical, emotional or mental problems are housed in the Residential Treatment Unit.
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HOUTZDALE -- While inmates are focused on their release, staff members at the State Correctional Institution at Houtzdale are equally focused on providing a means to ensure those same inmates don't return to prison by offering training programs for people behind bars.
"Ninety percent of our inmates will go home one day, and our goal is to ensure they do not return to prison in the future," Superintendent Barry Smith said.
To aid that effort, the medium-security prison housing 2,515 men uses a variety of programs, from initial training of service dogs to resume writing and educational programs to volunteering with nonprofits.
"The Department of Corrections as well as SCI Houtzdale is dedicated to providing inmates with education, vocational skills and treatment programs, all of which are aimed to help the inmate with a law abiding life upon release from prison," Smith said during a tour of the facility -- the first since the all-male state prison opened in 1996.
Smith said the Secretary of Corrections, John Wetzel, wanted the facility to host a tour as a way to be transparent.
As he guided the Mirror on Tuesday through the different departments and services offered to SCI inmates, Smith pointed out the training opportunities that include forklift operations, a commissary program, commercial driver's license program and a masonry program.
Inmates can also participate in a community work program and volunteer with nonprofit organizations, he said.
Part of the effort to help inmates lead a crime-free life includes the "Re-entry Service Office where inmates receive information such as how to write a resume, conduct job interviews and also can use the internet supervised by a staff member so they can begin employment searches," he said.
Educational services include an opportunity to earn a high school equivalency degree or Commonwealth Secondary School Diploma and the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program.
The pilot program partners with Bloomsburg University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Lehigh Community College to offer inmates college education programs, he said.
The Houtzdale facility is also home to one of the state's three Veteran Services Units, which focuses on assisting selected inmates who are veterans with re-entry. There are 163 veterans in the Houtzdale VSU program and a total of 275 veterans in the facility.
The VSU can take up to 189 inmates, and SCI Houtzdale intends to fill all of the slots, Smith said.
Craig Petulla, correctional units manager, said the VSU is a re-entry based unit split into three platoons: red, white and blue. The focal point of the program is to help with housing, employment, health care and treatment needs and to give veterans "a leg up instead of starting from scratch."
Another program that Petulla oversees is the Relying Upon Furry Friend, where inmates train service dogs to eventually be sent to the United Disabilities Services in Lancaster.
"It allows its participants to give back to society and the community," Petulla said. "And the residents benefit because it provides a level of calmness."
During the tour, SCI staff highlighted the medical, educational, recreational, job training and spiritual and religious services offered as an attempt to meet the needs of inmates while at the facility and when they leave to re-enter society.
The tour included the medical department, dining hall, correctional industry, veterans service unit, nondenominational chapel, education department, activities area and residential treatment unit.
Mirror Staff Writer Shen Wu Tan is at 946-7457.