Using 3D Printers to Educate Inmates in Illinois Youth Center

There are a number of efforts by a wide variety of groups to help ensure that the circumstances that led people into the criminal justice system can be changed for them so that they can find a way out. One of those initiatives was just recently begun a volunteer educator at the Illinois Youth Center, George Jenkins. Jenkins proposed that integrating advanced manufacturing technologies into the current vocational education offerings would provide inmates with a set of valuable skills that just might help them to stand on their own after release. There are a number of special considerations that go along with using 3D printers in correctional facilities, but the group has gotten permission to proceed with this innovative approach to prisoner rehabilitation. Check out more details in the full article: http://3dprint.com/32299/3d-printing-educates-inmates/ ‎


Below is a photo of George Jenkins at work on a 3D printer:
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3d printers printing a bright future!

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Hi Brian, I am from Uruguay. Congratulations on this valuable initiative. We have a labor-educational project in jails here that has started four years ago. We mainly teach cut and confection and some techniques to transform recycled materials into design articles. This year we wanted to install a 3D printing workshop and teach the inmates, and we have the possibility of getting some financial help from the US Embassy in Uruguay. The requisite for that help (apart from the social impact) is that "The proposed programs should strengthen bilateral ties between the United States and Uruguay and include a clear connection with the United States and the promotion of a greater understanding of the United States among the Uruguayan public”, so we are looking for an ally to interchange experiences and best practices, so that the program meets the Embassy’s expectations.
We have the support of two entrepreneurs who have recently developed recycled 3D filament made from discarded plastic computer cases (in Uruguay we have a OLPC program that gives every children at school a laptop, and this program donates the plastic cases to make the filament). They have also developed low cost printers, using pieces of discarded printers and printing in 3D whatever is needed (except from the electronic parts that are new).
Would you be interested in knowing more about the project to see if we can collaborate? I belive it can be very rich and valuable for both parts. Best regards.