RICHMOND — Men wearing T-shirts and jeans quietly went about their work at Bluegrass Regional Recycling Corp. on a recent sunny afternoon.
Inside the processing plant, just past a cardboard box full of tiny, plastic pieces from shredded milk jugs, four guys pulled the wrapping off black rubber gloves that Marines use to handle chemicals.
Other workers eventually will operate the machines that grind the gloves, and similar boots, into rubber mulch used on playgrounds and on a path that circles the corporation's career development center, which sits nearby on the same four acres.
Outside, a man used white paint to touch up a wooden fence that surrounds the center. Another man worked alone on a farm behind the building, preparing to plant more corn. Afterward, he went to eat in the cafeteria, where men in white chef hats prepare fresh food while participating in a culinary arts program.
Several others took college classes in a computer lab at the center.
All of the men are state inmates from various correctional institutions who are preparing to transition back into society. The halfway program is designed to teach them job and life skills, such as teamwork, and keep them from returning to jail.
"I don't feel like I'm locked up down here," Kevin Higgins of Danville said as he sorted the gloves. Higgins served time at Green River Correctional Complex for receiving stolen property before he was sent to the career development center.
The center houses about 80 inmates, all non-violent, who receive training in the recycling industry and receive certifications such as commercial driver's licenses. Some of them work at the processing plant in Richmond while others might serve the community, working in various capacities with the county or city government or volunteering to build houses for Habitat for Humanity, said Mickey Mills, the corporation's executive director.
Bluegrass Regional Recycling Corp. is a non-profit organization established about 20 years ago to help cities and counties in the area develop recycling programs. It has used inmate labor for about a decade, but the career development center was established about two years ago.
Mills said the program uses a "whole-person concept" that helps the residents in all parts of their lives. The program emphasizes education, vocation, and health and physical fitness. There is a gym inside the center, and the food is made as healthfully as possible.
The executive director said the recidivism rate for those who have participated in the program is about 12 percent; the state has a recidivism rate of about 40 percent. He said national rates are even higher than the state's.
"They're coming out of here better qualified than people on the street," Mills said as he walked the property.
Men in the program enhance their résumés. They may participate in clerical work, landscaping or janitorial services. Some receive their General Educational Development certificate in the program, and many take college courses. Two men working at the computer lab Friday had earned 24 college credit hours, which transfer to institutions such as Eastern Kentucky University.
As they would be at a halfway house, the men are given more freedom, and Mills takes pride in having an environment that doesn't feel like a jail. The pay phones are cheaper than in correctional institutions, Mills said, because communication and relationships are important. And visitation in the cafeteria is designed to make families feel comfortable.
"From where I came from, this is a whole lot better," Higgins said. "I love it here."
The residents operate just about every aspect of the facility, even picking up recyclables in Madison County. Most of them know little, if anything, about recycling when they enter the program.
"They come in from scratch and just run the place," Mills said.
Higgins said he did not know whether he would enter the recycling industry when he's released in February. He joked with another worker, Tim Beeler, who has been urging Higgins to become a farmer.
Beeler said he was a construction worker before going to jail for manufacturing meth, and he probably will return to construction. But he noted that the recycling industry is booming and the skills learned at the center are invaluable to younger inmates.
