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Inmates Get Second Chance, Learn Construction Skills With Habitat For Humanity

By Matt Kroschel

BASALT, Colo. (CBS4) - Tuesday afternoon finishing touches to a home under construction in Basalt were being made. A crew of men wearing green jumpsuits worked quickly to finish landscaping outside.

Standing on the street gazing with big smiles at their soon to be completed new home, a family who says they have more to be thankful for this Thanksgiving than they ever thought possible.

What makes this story so touching is the home is being built by Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley. The organization is leaning on their seven-year partnership with the Colorado Department of Corrections. Inmates have been volunteering on home build sites. That is where a CBS4 camera caught up with inmate Wayne Klinck.

"I made a stupid mistake years ago, but this program and learning how to build is giving me skills to use once I am released," Klinck says.

Habitat for Hunamity
(credit: CBS)

Not only does Habitat for Humanity allow the inmates to do manual labor on the job sites, but they actually have set up classroom instruction. Once completed with the program the inmates are certified by the state and take a test, making them prime hiring prospects in the construction industry.

"We are now formally training the inmates to get their BEST card, the contractor card, that will provide far greater work opportunities when they get out of prison," program director Scott Gilbert said.

The inmates are supervised during their work by prison guards from the minimal security prison they are housed at in Rifle.

"Habitat is a big believer in giving people a second chance … and we practice this philosophy with our homeowners and the inmates who we are training to help them help themselves to have better life," Gilbert added. "We believe strongly in giving people a hand-up, not a hand-out. So in addition to working alongside the homeowners building homes, they are now making progress in their own lives as well."

Local organizers hope their model will spread nationwide because of the positive results both for the community and the inmates.

"These people have been absolutely amazing. I used to be a deputy sheriff that got injured in the line of duty in Florida," new homeowner Assaf Dory said. "We lost everything after all the surgeries and were heading out west to start anew and ended up here."

LINK: Habitat For Humanity

Matt Kroschel covers news throughout Colorado working from the CBS4 Mountain Newsroom. Send story ideas to mrkroschel@cbs.com and connect with him on Twitter @Matt_Kroschel.

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