There are a variety of educational and vocational courses offered by the BOP. During your 28 day meeting with your case manager, they will print out your summary of what courses you are required to take to qualify for First Step Act (FSA) time off and if you need a GED. The list is customized for the inmate based on your high school graduation/GED status, crime, recidivism rate and survey results (There are two surveys that are completed upon arrival for you to start earning FSA credit). If you never finished high school or don’t have your GED, you must take GED courses and get your GED before release. Then inmates have an incentive to take other courses or work in Unicor to achieve time off from FSA. You need to sign up for any courses identified during your 28 day meeting if they are offered. You are required to take those courses if they place you in the courses, unless you work in Unicor. Unicor is designed to train inmates for work on the outside, which lowers recidivism and trumps the required courses.
If an inmate qualifies for FSA during a given month, they will earn 10 days off per month for the first 6 months, then 15 days per month afterwards for a maximum of 12 months off their incarceration term. Then they will continue to earn time off their halfway house and home confinement time upon release from the prison. For example if I’m released after 24 months, I will have achieved 11 months off my incarceration term and then continue to earn time off my halfway and home confinement time.
My situation seems a bit unique, since I was only required to sign up for recreation courses. Even though I work in Unicor, I recently signed up for two recreation courses related to health and nutrition. I haven’t taken them yet, but I believe they are extremely basic and you typically get credit if you show up and turn in the worksheets or tests. For example, I was under the impression I needed to take parenting 1 and signed up before my 28 day meeting. I attended the 4 weekly 20 min classes where we watched videos and completed some simple tests and that was enough to get credit.
Different courses are offered at different times. When I first arrived in November they offered Parenting 1 and 2, and Astronomy. This month they are offering Spanish 1 and 2, and something else. I was somewhat interested in taking Spanish, but decided not to because it was at 6:15pm and I like to read and relax then. The courses are typically offered between 2-3pm and 6-8pm one day a week. FYI another class they currently have is Resume – which obviously helps inmates create a resume upon release.
Vocational courses are also offered. They are purely optional. Building trades and CDL are currently offered at my camp. They are typically offered as a morning group (7:30-10) and an afternoon group (11-1:30). The afternoon group allows the RDAP (Residential Drug and Alcohol Program) group to attend, since they are in session from 6:45-10am. The building trades course lasts about 9 months and provides you with a popular certification used by unions. It covers things like roofing, siding, framing, etc. CDL provides the national certification to drive a tractor trailer; however, we are unable to get a hazmat endorsement as a convicted felon. I signed up for CDL back in November and I am scheduled to start soon. I figured this certification would broaden my employment opportunities, if I was unable to work in the pool service business for some reason down the road or for winter work between pool seasons. I’ve also heard of inmates who received their HVAC certification at Fort Dix, who transferred here for RDAP. There are quite a few more vocational courses offered by the BOP, but vary based on the camp.
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