(BOP) - The BOP began a National Paving Project with a crew of carefully selected minimum security inmates. The inmates were trained and certified in asphalt paving operations, and given an opportunity to obtain a Commercial Driver's License (CDL). The inmate paving crew and their BOP supervisors have been dispatched to 30 Bureau of Prisons institutions that were in need of paving services to address deteriorating parking lots, perimeter roads and access roads.
In addition to saving the government money by providing a much needed service, at a cost significantly lower than would be charged by commercial pavers, the paving project provides inmates with marketable skills that translate into job opportunities following release. Specifically, the inmates are trained in paver equipment operation, work-zone safety, the compaction process, quality control, pavement principles, and site preparation and planning.
Several paving and trucking companies have expressed a desire to hire the crew members when they are released, and many have already received conditional job offers in the paving and trucking industry. To date, all crew members who have been released have been offered employment with either a paving or trucking company.