Jail inmates preparing for release in two Massachusetts' counties will get help with job skills and substance abuse problems under a program funded by a $2.6 million federal grant.
The Hampden County House of Correction and the Suffolk County House of Correction will share the grant from the Department of Education, U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said yesterday in a news release.
The three-year grant will fund a program where inmates participate in a five-week curriculum on topics including job readiness, social services, substance abuse help, work training and cultural integration.
Three weeks of the program take place inside the jail and the remaining two after release, with local educational and faith-based groups providing counseling.
'We look upon it as a crime-fighting' tool, said Richard J. McCarthy, spokesman for the Hampden County House of Correction in Ludlow.