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Wyoming Inmates Get Mobile Welding Lab- 7/14/2010The Wyoming Department of Corrections (WDOC) completed construction on a mobile welding lab that will be used to teach welding skills to inmates to help prepare them for careers outside of prison. The mobile unit will travel between the State Penitentiary, the Wyoming Women’s Center and the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution, providing service to facilities in three different locations on a rotating basis. “It is by providing inmates opportunities to obtain training and earn certifications that they will more likely remain crime-free when they leave our system and become productive citizens,” says Betty Abbott, WDOC education programs manager. “Trained inmates will be able to apply for welding jobs when they complete their sentences, earning a livable wage that could be as high as $36 per hour.” Wyoming state legislators approved $194,000 in funding for the mobile unit in 2008. It was determined that the cost to build individual welding labs at each facility would exceed $300,000, making a mobile unit a more cost-effective solution. To stay within budget, WDOC staff and inmates contributed a large share of the construction on the mobile welding lab. The 48-foot mobile welding trailer can accommodate five students at a time. Inmates can work toward welding certification and college credit through Eastern Wyoming College or Central Wyoming College. The Wyoming Department of Corrections says that welders are in high demand in the state’s mining, manufacturing and transportation industries. 
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