SOMERSET, Ky. — A community in southeastern Kentucky is committing to giving those convicted of crimes a new lease on life. Pulaski County recently expanded services at the jail aimed at helping inmates with reentry into the community.

What You Need To Know

  • The Pulaski County Detention Center has had a work program since 2021 

  • Inmates are trained and can earn money while incarcerated to build a better life upon release 

  • Thirty-four students have graduated since the program's inception

The Pulaski County Detention Center, with the help of inmates, transformed an old medical records warehouse lined with shelves of medical records from the 1980s and older into a training center as part of their reentry program.

The goal for anyone lodged at the detention center is a second chance to assimilate back into the community. It was one of jailer Anthony McCollum’s goals since being elected in 2018.

“We want them to be successful individuals, we don’t want them to be rearrested and brought back in,” McCollum said.

In 2021, the department started its reentry program. Recently, the Pulaski County Detention Center opened a new training center where inmates learn skills from lawn mowing to welding. 

McCollum says they bought the building from Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital with the help of the Somerset-Pulaski County Economic Development Authority.

“Even the cabinets back here were built by an inmate using wood that came from the facility, so it’s been a very productive thing,” McCollum said.

Chris Girdler, president of SPEDA, says the program is a form of economic development for Somerset and Pulaski County.

“We’re trying to help increase the workforce development potential, help fill those job openings, reduce recidivism and save the taxpayers’ money at the end of the day; to end that cycle, to create a better life for those people and create a better life for their children,” Girdler said.

Girdler said local businesses are responding to the program positively, many have hired and continue to hire inmates. Others have reached out to see how they can get involved.

“We get a lot of contacts from numerous people in the community, business leaders who are trying to find a way which they can participate,” Girdler said.

McCollum said the goal for anyone detained at his jail is rehabilitation and making sure it’s their last time in jail. It’s why the expanded space will have classrooms and places for employers and service providers to speak with inmates.

“Once they get out, they’ve got a job, they’ve got money in their bank account to where they’ve got a step up on just the average person that just gets rearrested and back in,” McCollum said.

The first class started in 2021 and has graduated 34 students with only two having re-offended.            

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