UK prisoners offered data cabling training

by Jordan Yerman | June 13, 2008 at 06:35 am

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Screw license plates... if you want to stop recidivism, teach prisoners a real-life skill. In this case, HM Prisons and Cisco are killing two birds with one stone, addressing the aforementioned issue as well as dealing with brain-drain in the skilled-trades sector of the IT world.

The scheme to establish a vocational learning academy at Wandsworth prison, London will be delivered by Cisco and the HM Prisons Service. Cisco reckons one in five jobs in data and network cabling go unfilled, a shortfall representing 61,000 jobs in the UK alone.

The course lasts 70 hours and will initially be offered to 12 prisoners. It's hoped 100 lags will pass through its doors by the end of the year.

Inmates who finish the training will be interviewed for jobs after they leave jail by BeOnsite, a non-profit firm. "The academy at HMP Wandsworth will develop real-world, in-demand skills helping to prepare inmates for the workplace and therefore reducing re-offending," said Cisco's UK public sector director Scot Gardner.