The workforce coaching program Linked Apprentice is teaming with Apple to deliver iPads and commerce schooling into U.S. prisons, beginning with a pilot program in Ohio. The initiative goals to arrange incarcerated folks for careers in high-demand industries like development and well being care.
This system, launching at Chillicothe Correctional Establishment (CCI) in southern Ohio, supplies incarcerated residents with safe iPads pre-loaded with trade-specific coaching modules. Programs are personalized by commerce and state, protecting each technical expertise like plumbing or carpentry and office competencies like communication and {industry} software program.
Steve Metzman, CEO of iBusiness Applied sciences, the corporate behind Linked Apprentice, mentioned the trouble shouldn’t be solely supposed to deal with labor shortages however to lower charges of recidivism amongst incarcerated folks. In line with a 2025 report from the Ohio Division of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC), the speed of return inside three years was 17.9 %. On the nationwide stage, this charge is almost 40 %, in response to the Council on Legal Justice.
Regular employment can considerably cut back the chance of re-arrest, with one Ohio research displaying it does so by greater than 50 %.
“With the explosive progress of development and infrastructure initiatives like information facilities and highways, they want folks which can be prepared to work laborious and do job,” Metzman mentioned.
Certainly, information middle development spending within the U.S. elevated by 70 % from Could 2023 to Could 2024 and is projected to proceed rising, in response to a 2025 report from the tech advocacy group American Edge Undertaking. The report mentioned a typical information middle development challenge can make use of 1,600 native employees.
Along with filling workforce wants, Metzman mentioned the Linked Apprentice curriculum brings members up to the mark on the rising use of expertise in high-demand fields.
Picture credit score: iBusiness Applied sciences
“They’re all utilizing tablets within the subject,” Metzman mentioned. “When someone goes out for an air-con service name, they’ve a pill. In the event that they’re going out to place a brand new roof on the home, they’ve a pill to do the quote.”
Self-paced coursework in this system contains video instruction, a fundamental introduction to expertise and coaching on industry-specific software program. For instance, applications tailor-made to potential plumbers or sprinkler installers might be educated on the app Pipe Trades Professional, used generally in these roles. This system tracks progress and permits correctional workers to watch scholar engagement.
Relying on when an incarcerated particular person’s jail time period began, Metzman mentioned merely interacting with an iPad might be an necessary expertise. For instance, for somebody who entered the ability with out ever having owned a smartphone, it may be useful to achieve familiarity with a pill earlier than being requested to make use of one on the job, he mentioned.
He added that this system’s success might be measured by the power of former inmates to safe jobs and keep away from reincarceration.
In recent times, Ohio has invested in jail education schemes to assist incarcerated residents achieve employment upon launch. In 2025, 1000’s earned highschool equivalency, profession technical schooling (CTE), job apprenticeships and school certifications, in response to the ODRC report.
“It actually permits those who come out who’re prepared to work laborious to earn good cash,” Metzman mentioned. “If these folks could make $60,000 to $70,000 a yr, they are often comfy offering for his or her household, and so they’re not enticed again to the upper paying, unlawful types of getting cash.”
CCI shouldn’t be investing in schooling for anybody subject, Metzman mentioned, however inviting members in education schemes to decide on paths based mostly on their pursuits.
“They wish to have a catalog of various choices for his or her soon-to-be-released residents,” he mentioned. “Then, relying on what pursuits someone has and possibly the earnings stage somebody’s going for, they’d then select the specialty and use the iPads to be taught that commerce.”
In line with Metzman, this system might be refined at CCI earlier than increasing throughout 20 correctional establishments statewide.
