KS DOC – Hutchinson Correctional Facility (HCF)

Opportunities for Inmates

The Department of Corrections contracts for its educational and vocational services.

• The education program offers a computer-based system that utilizes the “A+dvanced Learning System” for the GED program.
• The curriculum has a literacy component to improve reading and math skills.
• Special Education is provided for students under the age of 21 and Title 1 services are provided.

Central Unit Education
Vocational programs offered are funded through a CBJT grant with Barton Community College and a cooperative effort with Hutchinson Community College. The programs are offered in HVAC, plumbing, AutoCAD, and manufacturing skills.

East Unit Education
Vocational programs are offered in home building and construction woodworking.

HCF provides reentry planning and training in the following areas:
• Money Smart
• Parole Interactions
• Pre-Employment
• Relapse Prevention
• Resource Rooms
• Tenant Responsibilities
• Thinking for a Change
• Veterans Benefits

Mustangs on the Move

Since 2001, inmates at Hutchinson Correctional Facility have aided the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in alleviating the over-population of wild horses on federal lands in the western United States. Left unchecked, the horses can multiply to the extent that the land would not sustain their numbers, resulting in starvation and other problems for these animals.

Through a cooperative agreement between the BLM and Kansas Correctional Industries (KCI), a self-supporting unit under the direction of the Kansas Department of Corrections, a dozen minimum-custody inmates care and train the wild horses with the goal of making them suitable for adoption. The program also provides inmate work opportunities that help inmates reintegrate back into the community. With the ability to house up to 499 horses, KCI uses donated materials to train horses rounded up by the BLM. KCI also receives a per diem for housing and care of the horses. Each spring, KCI holds a horse auction with the sales benefitting the BLM to continue the program’s funding. Horses not adopted are transferred to long-term holding locations where they live out their lives. The BLM estimates approximately 14,000 wild horses will need to be relocated and held until the current crisis abates.

CARES

CENTRAL UNIT:
Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Education Services (CARES) provides inmates the opportunity to learn how to train service dogs. Following training, the dogs are then placed with disabled individuals. While providing a valuable service to the community, the inmates learn patience, responsibility, leadership skills, social skills and communication skills.

Lucky Dog

EAST UNIT:
Through the Lucky Dog program, dogs receive training from inmates who teach the dogs basic obedience commands such as sit, lie down and stay. The dogs are house broken, crate trained and are taught to walk on a leash. This is a second chance for the lucky dogs that would likely otherwise have been euthanized. Begun in 2002 with just one dog, the Lucky Dog Program has since grown to 15 dogs that are trained between 60 to 65 inmates. There are at least 4 inmates assigned to each dog. A few inmates also are trained to serve as extra handlers as needed. All funding for this program is generated through the Friends of Animals in Need, Inc.