KISSIMMEE, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A new program within the Florida Department of Corrections is giving incarcerated people a second chance, and it aims towards reducing recidivism rates in Florida.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The Florida Department of Corrections is giving incarcerated people the chance to earn their Class B CDL through its new training program
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While CDL training has been around for several years for inmates,\u00a0the Class B portion of the license program officially kicked off this September
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FDC said its goal with this program is to reduce recidivism and victimization
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The program is being made possible because of FDC\u2019s connection with \u201cFleetForce Truck Driver Training\u201d<\/p>\n
Their new Commercial Driver License Class B program trains incarcerated people to earn their full CDL before being released. That way they can begin a new career immediately following incarceration. The Class B portion of the license program officially kicked off this September.<\/p>\n
Robert Woodall has been working for nearly a year to get his full CDL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went, 20 years ago, to a school here in Central Florida,\u201d Woodall said. \u201cIt\u2019s called, I believe, Orange Technical College, and I was going for my heavy equipment operator license. The instructor there, when I did my CDL for me said, \u2018You’re going to go do cranes, you’re going to get your heavy equipment license, but you were born to drive trucks,\u2019 and it just always stuck to my head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though 19 years ago, Woodall was put in jail after he was convicted for a weapons charge in 2006. With less than a year left in his sentence, he said the CDL program is opening a new door for him and others in similar shoes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a career changer for me. It’s an opportunity to where I can do something that’s respectable, that’s a lead in the industry,\u201d Woodall said. \u201cI never would have thought that something like this would have even been available to someone who’s incarcerated. So, it really surprised me that that they have programs like this to help people get out and be better. I’ve always said you’re going to be one or two things when you get out of here, either better or bitter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joe Edwards, the assistant regional director of Florida Department of Corrections, said the goal is to equally invest in incarcerated people\u2019s lives while also preparing people for local jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor every individual that we can get some training for that can get gainful meaningful employment, obviously, that should reduce recidivism and ultimately reduce victimization, which directly impacts public safety,\u201d Edwards said. “We want to get some of these businesses and industries a good employee that’s not only going to work with them while they’re still incarcerated with us, but it’s going to be a long-term career employee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several of the CDL program participants in the Orange and Osceola County areas are near their program completion, and for each of them, this is a new chapter.<\/p>\n
The program is being made possible because of FDC\u2019s connection with \u201cFleetForce Truck Driver Training.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KISSIMMEE, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A new program within the Florida Department of Corrections is giving incarcerated people a second chance,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4996,274,113,28,30,29,24498,115,139,1976,278,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-35192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-app-education","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-florida-headlines","13":"tag-florida-news","14":"tag-jordan-mead","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-orlando","17":"tag-osceola-county","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}