Inmates take welding course to help get jobs post-incarceration
MILWAUKEE - A group of inmates is serving time and learning a new skill to help them stay out of jail.
The Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center is offering a new program for inmates to help them gain skills to get a trades job once their sentences are over.
With metal as his canvas and fire as his tool, David Phillips proves he can handle the heat.
"I have something to concentrate on and to be meticulous about," Phillips said.
For him, welding is an escape.
"You literally zone out," he said. "I’m not here."
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Phillips is part of the small group of men taking the new welding course while serving time.
"[You] get into a whole different realm instead of concentrating on incarceration," Phillips said.
"When you’re watching it, it’s like it gives you a different feeling when you’re actually doing it," Marlon McElroy said.
Inmate welding course
The class is six hours a day, four days a week. It’s led by superintendent Chantell Jewell.
"We’re not here to punish individuals," Jewell said. "We’re here to make sure that they leave here better than when they came."
The men receive credits for the course. They work with Employ Milwaukee to help prepare for their re-entry job search.
"What we want to be able to see is you all not only get employment opportunities, but for you to remain out [of jail]," said Wylbur Holloway, with Employ Milwaukee.
The men have bonded while serving their sentences.
Inmate welding course
"I prayed that the lord would help me to find something to do with my time other than to go outside and be a recidivist and come back," Phillips said. "We all are good people still. We’re not just castaways."
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There's a hope this sparks a future filled with success.
"Just made some mistakes," McElroy said. "Yes."
Organizers said this is the first welding course in more than a decade. This first class has 10 men.
"I want people to see us in a better light than is usually portrayed for people that’s incarcerated," Phillips said.