Officials raise the ribbon at the new J.F. Ingram State Technical College workforce training facility at the Perry County PREP Center on Sept. 23.(above)
J.F. Ingram State Technical College and the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles opened a new workforce training facility at the Perry County PREP Center on U.S. Highway 80 near Uniontown with a ribbon cutting Wednesday morning, Sept. 23.
The building gives the college dedicated space for hands-on instruction in entry-level welding, electrical work, carpentry and heavy equipment operation for the men in the center’s reentry program, along with industry credentials including OSHA 10, NCCER, Alabama Career Essentials and forklift certification, the college said in its announcement.
“This facility represents what can happen when we stop looking at reentry as one moment and start looking at it as a process,” Ingram State President David Walters said. “Our goal is for someone to leave the PREP Center with more than hope that they can find a job. We want them to leave with skills, credentials, experience and the confidence to walk onto a job site knowing they are prepared to work.”
Bureau Director Cam Ward said public safety is the bureau’s first priority and that preparing people to succeed when they return to their communities is part of that work. “A good-paying, skilled job can change the trajectory of someone’s life,” he said.
Kelvin McGuire, a graduate of the program, spoke at the ceremony. “These aren’t just certificates. These are keys that unlock doors that I never thought would open,” he said, WSFA reported. “This new workforce training center here represents hope. Not only for me, but for many others who will follow behind that want a second chance.”
The center, the Perry County Probation and Parole Reentry Education Program, opened in April 2022 at the former Perry County Correctional Facility and has graduated more than 600 participants. The bureau reports a recidivism rate among them of less than 1 percent.
Participants can choose from 30 to 40 programs, from welding and forklift certification to carpentry and construction, the college estimates, and the training is set up to work like a job site. “What we’re doing here, which is different than anywhere else in the state of Alabama and certainly in the nation as well, is we’ve got it simulating the work side,” Walters told WSFA.
The college presented plans for the building to the Alabama Community College System board in December 2024: a mostly open-air structure of about 20,000 square feet with two classrooms, a concrete pad for forklift training and cover for training on skid steers, backhoes and dozers, Alabama Daily News reported at the time. The college’s announcement of the opening did not give the finished building’s size or cost.
State Sen. Robert Stewart of Selma, a member of the state’s reentry commission, said he attended along with Sen. Bobby Singleton, Rep. Prince Chestnut and Uniontown Mayor Ronald Miller. Curtis Muhannad, the bureau’s district manager for the center, leads the PREP Center.
