by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Sheriff John Rutherford calls it the kind of all-encompassing facility that’s needed in Jacksonville.
City Council member Ray Holt is excited about the idea.
Builders Care Executive Director Bill Wilson said the $25 million needed to build it is out there, but he’s not saying where it’ll come from yet.
“It” is a transitional facility for ex-offenders that Wilson would like to build on 68 acres in Holt’s district. The property, Holt said, was a residential development that never came to fruition. It’s near the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Northside detention center and it abuts the Busch plant.
Wednesday, Holt, Rutherford and Council member Daniel Davis met with Wilson and several others to gauge interest in such a facility. When completed — and it would take several months to get permits, finalize plans and and get Council approval — the facility wouldn’t just house ex-offenders. It would also serve as a vocational training academy and provide spiritual guidance. It would include a 50,000 square-foot manufacturing warehouse where those accepted into the program would build modular homes. It would also include training in truck driving, the culinary arts and construction-related trades — all of which would produce certified professionals ready to enter the workforce.
“As builders, they would build products and we’d create a skilled workforce,” said Wilson, adding he sees a day when the modular homes — which are made of wood and would replace mobile homes — could serve as inexpensive housing for countries that need it. “Wouldn’t it be neat if Jacksonville figures out how to help the rest of the world?
“At the end of the day, we will be rehabilitating ex-offenders and training workers. That’s what we want to do.”
Rutherford likes the idea and sees the benefits it could provide.
“I support the concept of this initiative,” he said. “All the local social services can help, too.”
Rutherford does, however, want to make sure the facility is primarily for inmates leaving the state prison system who are looking to return to the Jacksonville area, make the two-year commitment the program requires and eventually become meaningful contributors to society again.
“I don’t want to build this for people coming from South Florida or South Georgia,” he said. “It needs to be for the people in prison coming back to Jacksonville. We need to take care of our own.
“This is kind of the all wrap-around service I think people coming back from prison need.”
Fadia McGhee of Heartfelt Wholeness Community, Inc. talked at length about the facility and the types of programs she envisions.
“When released, they will live on the grounds and work at the factory,” she said, adding those
in the system for nonviolent crimes can spend a year in the program while technically incarcerated and another year as an ex-offender. “When they walk out, they will be certified electricians and carpenters and more. When they are willing, there will be a new mindset.”
McGhee also talked about a small program for teenage girls who are in the criminal justice system.
“For whatever reason, they can’t go back home,” said McGhee. “There will be 6-10 ladies with a house mother. They will be taught life skills and exposed to better things in life. Some only go to school when they are incarcerated. Some only have three wholesome meals a day when they are incarcerated.”
Wilson said Builders Care will provide the hands-on training through its certified professionals.
“You can’t learn framing without framing and you can’t learn plumbing without plumbing,” he said.
Holt said he’d like to further pursue the idea.
“I think we’re on a good path here,” he said.
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