Vocational Heavy Construction Technology program: a comprehensive plan including program needs and future directions

Vocational Heavy Construction Technology program: a comprehensive plan including program needs and future directions

In 1997 Warren Diesslin, former Warden of the Buena Vista Correctional Facility, and Eddie Kochman, former Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) Aquatic Section Manager, met and discussed a joint venture to rehabilitate degraded stream habitats while providing heavy construction training for inmates sincere about changing the direction of their lives. These men conceived and supported the vision of what is now known as the Vocational Heavy Construction Technology (VHCT) program. Tom Bowen, once a prison guard and later a Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) vocational educational instructor with years of practical heavy construction experience, developed and coordinated this program with the support and approval of Warden Diesslin. Tom contacted the Colorado Contractors Association (CCA) and they agreed to serve as a program sponsor. The CCA has since become an integral part of the program, serving as the advisory board and assisting student inmates with job placement once they have successfully completed the program. Through the VHCT program, two state agencies (CDOW and CDOC) and private industry have formed a rare partnership with different missions: to help redirect human lives while restoring river natural processes and aquatic habitats within driving distance of the Buena Vista Correctional Facility.

Kondratieff, Matthew C.

Habitat restoration

Colorado Department of Corrections

19 pages

2007-04

Text

application/pdf

English