PENDLETON — Inside a trailer parked on the grounds of Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution sat a row of chairs on raised yellow, metal platforms in front of four large screens.

Twelve men incarcerated at EOCI used the technology to learn how to operate heavy equipment through a simulation. At the end of five weeks, they were certified as heavy equipment operators at an introductory level.

The program is run by Baker Technical Institute. It trains students on various machines, such as excavators, bulldozers, and skid steers, in addition to CPR, first aid, traffic control flagger and forklift certification classes. The course instructor also helps participants with resume, cover letter and interview preparation to enter the construction field.

“It’s a super high demand sector right now, obviously, with all the infrastructure spending that’s happening with the federal government,” said Doug Dalton, Baker Technical Institute president. “There’s been a real lack of skilled labor when it comes to construction.”

Education and rehabilitation

Seven prisons throughout Oregon (including all four on the east side) have hosted the program at different times since it was funded a few years ago by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The funding will run out in September, Dalton said, but the Oregon Department of Corrections and other stakeholders are working “diligently to find additional funding and hopefully permanent funding for the program.”

Most locations, like EOCI, can only accommodate virtual training, but two — Coffee Creek and Warner Creek — offered experience on physical machines and certified their students as Level 1 heavy equipment operators.

“With no skills or training, there’s a high likelihood of returning to the system,” Dalton said. “It’s a high likelihood they will not come back with training. It’s some of the best money we can spend.”

Researchers have found that receiving education in prison reduces recidivism — reoffending — by about 30%. And education that provides real-life skills that lead to employment is particularly helpful.

Dalton said the program is highly cost-effective and sustaining. Upon release, the students are able to participate in land labs with Baker Technical Institute, during which they get a required number of hours in the machines, to earn their Level 1 certification.

The skills they learn in the class help them get hired on construction projects and make them more marketable to employers.

“We’re supporting them when they’re on the inside,” he said, “and when they’re on the outside, not only are they getting jobs when they come out, they’re getting great jobs and becoming taxpayers, so the math with just one student of the twelve pays for the whole group.”

The correctional rehabilitation manager at EOCI, Bryan Clark, said education and skill-building are “a huge reducer in recidivism.”

The 12 people selected for the program — out of dozens who apply — are also chosen, in part, because they’re expected to have a high likelihood of success in construction.

Each participant must have had good behavior for at least a year and a half, they must have a high school diploma or equivalent degree, and they must be within three years of release.

“They have training that’s hard to get on the outside, and they fully appreciate the opportunity,” said Dalton. “They’re just so engaged.”

Attention to details

Each simulator station consists of a screen and a mock operator seat complete with controls, joysticks, pedals, a steering wheel, and a platform that moves the whole seating area as if the operator is in a real machine.

Baker Technical Institute has multiple mobile training labs, and there is enough demand that they are building more. There are four simulators in each of the labs, which BTI bring around the Pacific Northwest Region.

Inside the recent Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution course, Justin James was the course instructor. As part of the role, he can set parameters for the students in each simulation, making them practice operating the machines in different conditions, such as at night or in fog, snow or rain.

The simulator indicates what jobs need to be completed for each training scenario and tracks various metrics, giving the operator a score at the end of the scene. By the second-to-last day of the equipment portion of the course, everyone in the class has passed all the simulation tests, but James said each student was still trying to improve their scores.

“It’s a good way to train before you go on a machine and mess up thousand-dollar equipment,” said Hassan Amir, a student in the class. “I’ve worked in construction most of my life, just as a laborer. This is a big step up.”

It’s expensive technology and equipment, but it’s still less expensive than it would be to do every training on physical machines that could be broken by students’ mistakes, require fuel and need upkeep.

“It’s a safe way to start and get these fundamentals down,” James said. “They pay close attention to detail and continuously strive to improve.”

James said he hopes simulators will start being used more frequently in heavy equipment operation training nationwide, and believes that BTI is one of the only training programs to have a mobile lab housing the simulation equipment.

Almost the real thing

Inside the mobile training lab, sounds of trucks idling or the beeps of machines backing up pepper the background as the students practice their skills on different machines.

One student, Daniel Pierce, said the simulator took some getting used to. The seated portion will vibrate and tilt, almost like an amusement park ride, during operation. The movement mimics what it’s like to actually be inside one of the machines.

“I actually threw up the first day,” Pierce said. “It’s been a while since many of us have been in a car or anything that moves like this.”

The backhoe is a particularly challenging one, a few of them said.

“This gives us the opportunity to work on really getting the motions down,” said Jason Jarrell, another student. Jarrell is being released in May, and although his goal isn’t to work in construction forever, he thinks having this certification will set him up with a job soon after he gets out and will provide some stability as he starts his own business.

“I wasn’t so sure about simulator training coming into it,” said James. He didn’t know if students could really learn what they needed to know from a simulation. “But I’m a believer in it now.”