(WSIL) -- Eight inmates are looking for a second chance.
To help them succeed, each earned their certification after completing the welding and technology program during a ceremony at the Murphysboro Life Skills Re-Entry Center.
"I give them the building blocks," said Bugg. "I teach them the basics. Teach them to weld. Show them what's expected."
The course takes five weeks and is 150 hours of curriculum base.
State Senator Terri Bryant was on hand to give words of encouragement to the graduates.
She says, putting inmates back on the streets without needed life skills can lead to re-incarceration.
"We're dooming you to a life of re-offending," said Sen. Bryant. "There's no reason why that you cannot get a job the day you walk out of here."
Bugg says industries like railroad and trucking are just a small sample of jobs ready to hire
"Southern Illinois is ripe with manufacturing and metal fabrication opportunities," Bugg said. "By giving these guys this trade, it's showing the industry that we want to put them back on the map."
One main focus of the program is to give inmates an alternative that doesn't involve coming back to prison.
"From talking with a lot of these guys, a lot of times it's mainly because they don't have an opportunity," said Bugg. "They don't have a door open for them. They don't have a skill that they can put on paper to make the money they need to live. So they find alternative means that may not always be legal."
Now that the graduates have a new trade, Bugg stresses it's up to them to make the most of it.
"From this point forward, it's on them to use those tools," said Bugg. "To go out into the world to find that job. that best fits them and their family's needs."
