ROCKLAND, Maine — Knox County Sheriff Donna Dennison said she is disappointed that a program that provides inmates with an opportunity to learn a trade and find good-paying jobs has hit a roadblock.
And the man who has taught the welding classes for inmates at the jail said he is frustrated with a dispute at the Mid-Coast School of Technology in Rockland that is preventing the inmates from using the facility to advance their training.
Owen Bundy of Warren, who taught welding through the adult education program at the technology school, has volunteered at the jail to teach inmates since last year, Dennison said.
“A couple of guys were really excelling in the program and had an opportunity for good-paying jobs if they had more advanced training,” the sheriff said.
The 65-year-old Bundy also is a pastor.
“People warm up to him. He encourages them to change their lives,” the sheriff said.
Bundy said he was trying to arrange to have the two inmates continue their education through the adult education program. The school has the equipment needed to provide the additional training. The equipment he uses at the jail is more like what a homeowner would have in the garage while the school has equipment similar to what is used in industrial settings.
The volunteer instructor said he spoke with the sheriff and jail administration and had paperwork to provide to the Region 8 vocational school board to seek its approval for the inmates to come to the school. He also had discussed the matter with the adult education director at the vocational school, Marianne Doyle, who also favored the idea, according to Bundy.
Without Bundy’s knowledge, Doyle arranged with the jail to have the inmates attend classes on Oct. 6, Bundy said. When he found out, Bundy said he lost his cool and told her that he could not teach them without approval.
Later that evening, he said Doyle provided him with a letter from the vocational school’s director, Elizabeth Fisher, informing him that he was being “written up” for starting the program without authorization. He said he also was informed that he was being sanctioned because he had arranged with the jail to have some crops from an inmate garden donated to the school’s culinary program without receiving permission from the administration or board.
Bundy said he was shocked by the director’s actions. He said he gave his verbal resignation to the adult education director but told her he wanted a day to cool off before he formally gave his resignation. He said, however, he was told that his resignation had been accepted.
Fisher said Wednesday she could not comment on a personnel matter but challenged some of what Bundy alleged.
“There’s a whole lot more involved, but I can’t talk because it’s a personnel matter,” Fisher said.
The director said the problem with the donation of the food from the jail to the school was that it did not go through proper channels to be approved and documented.
The adult education director did not return a call left Wednesday morning.
Bundy is a mechanical engineer, electrician and certified welder. He said that in the welding classes he has taught at the vocational school, 80 percent of the students got jobs at places such as snowplow manufacturer Fisher Engineering, Bath Iron Works and local boatyards.
The sheriff expressed disappointment about the controversy over an issue that would have benefited inmates and the community.
Dennison said she believes it was simply a misunderstanding among the parties at the school. She said the jail has been providing the vocational school with food starting this school year. The jail also provides food to local soup kitchens.