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LIFE Tech Center building named for T’ville Mayor Day
The LIFE (Life Skills Influenced by Freedom and Education) Tech Center was opened in April as a transition center for male parolees. A similar tech center in Wetumpka was opened for female parolees in 2004. The goal of the transition centers is to help parolees make the transition from prison to society after undergoing extensive substance abuse and mental health treatments, along with completing certain vocational training and job preparation skills. “My Task Force on Prison Crowding has come up with some great ideas, and this is one of them,” Riley said. “For the safety of our communities, it is imperative that we make sure those prisoners who are re-entering society are drug-free and have the right skills to get a job.”
When the mental health center at the old radar base location on Bashi Road closed, Day went to bat to put it to use. Sidney Williams, chairman of the pardons and paroles board said that when he first toured the facility and heard Day promote it, “I wanted to shake my head and walk away but with the Governor’s help, look what we have today.” Day’s leadership on the project was recognized by many but with a bit of gentle ribbing too. Alabama Southern Community College President John Johnson said, “We have a mayor who is as strong an advocate for his city as anyone can imagine...and sometimes tolerate.” But he added, in dedicating the administration and educational building to Day, “His advocacy for this project is what made it possible.” State Sen. Pat Lindsey, DButler, read a Senate resolution naming the facility for Day. He noted Day’s “persistence...put an emphasis on persistence,” in pursuing the project. Ironically, Day ran against Lindsey unsuccessfully four years ago for Lindsey’s Senate seat. Day in brief remarks said he didn’t run against Lindsey but he ran for the betterment of southwest Alabama, a goal that he said he and Lindsey both share. “This shows that no matter what happens in politics you can still work to form a consensus to make things happen,” Day said. The Senate resolution was cosponsored by Sen. Steve French, R-Birmingham, a Jackson native. During his remarks Riley called Day, “tenacious” and, jokingly added, “irritant also comes to mind.” He said Day “is one of, if not the best, mayors in the state of Alabama. He truly does want to do what is right” for Thomasville and the region. Riley toured the facilities at the center prior to the program. He walked through a dormitory to see how residents lived, and toured a welding shop and computer labs to better understand how the educational process at the facility worked. There are currently 227 parolees living in dormitories at the center, which can house up to 300. The transition center has already graduated one class of 43 parolees, with another 38 set to graduate on Friday. The Department of Corrections will be delivering 75 parolees to the facility on Dec. 18 to begin treatment and education classes.
“I hope what I’ve seen here today is a prelude of things to come in prison reform,” Riley said as he left the center. “This is just common sense.”
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