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Prisoners learn dairy skills

A Wisconsin prison education program that trains inmates for farm work has its first graduates.  Eight men just graduated from the first Dairy Worker Training Certificate program that is offered to inmates.  Moraine Park Technical College offers the two-credit certificate in milking, feeding, calf care, and cow reproduction.  The training is designed to help the graduates get jobs after serving time, or they can transfer the credits and continue their dairy education.

Sixty inmates work every day at one of five Department of Corrections facilities. The state-owned farms milk more than 500 cows and supply dairy products to the University of WWisconsin-Madison and to prisons in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

 

State Representative Michael Schraa says, “Matching capable employees with available jobs is certainly a good thing for the dairy industry, and finding steady employment is an even better thing for ex-offenders who will be re-entering the workforce.”