Business helps inmates work toward better future

MILAN, Tenn. — A construction site is giving inmates a new lease on life.

Cody Novem and Clarence Combs are both inmates and a part of the work program at the Gibson County Correctional Complex.

“I ain’t ever had a chance at really having a job. I came up kind of hard, so it helped me out a lot,” Combs said.

“I might be doing anything from servicing a vehicle, to fixing a tarp on a truck. We’ve been sanding and painting a little bit,” Novem said.

Gibson County Sheriff Paul Thomas says this program started as just an idea a year and a half ago.

“If you educate someone with some type of educational training, it cuts their chances of reincarceration by about 80 percent,” Thomas said.

Thomas says the recidivism rate in the men who participate in the program has gone from 65 percent to just eight percent.

Jon Hargett is the owner and president of Pavement Restorations in Milan, where Novem and Combs are working.

“We’ve not had to repeat anything we’ve asked them to do. I’ve been so impressed with their attitude of being able to do anything we’ve asked them to do. They work hard,” Hargett said.

And the money the inmates are earning isn’t just staying in their pockets.

“We’ve got men in our program that are sending anywhere from $100 to $1,000 a month home to their families, in addition to paying their court costs, paying off their back child support, and sustaining themselves financially while they’re incarcerated,” Thomas said.

Both Novem and Combs say the program has given them hope for their futures.

“It just lets me know people care about you, besides your family, and it’s nice of them to give you a chance to prove yourself, because you ain’t got the best past,” Novem said.

Thomas says there are almost 40 men who leave the jail to work in factories in Madison, Carroll and Gibson counties every day.