I have the facts -- heard them reported straight from an official of the Department of Corrections interviewed for the news piece. I don't need any more facts or proof than that .... but since you apparently want more facts or proof than I suggest that you call the New York State Department of Corrections, the Department of Motor Vehicles or the Governor's Office YOURSELF
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
If I had caught the same newcasts I wouldn't have had to ask the question. Thought I was asking for legitimate assistance here, but obviously you are offended by it. Thanks anyway.
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
Now that I am home from work and could google, here is the information:
Quoted Text
NEW YORK DMV WILL USE WOMEN PRISONERS TO ANSWER PHONES
Departments of Correctional Services and Motor Vehicles Open Cost-Saving Call Center at Women’s Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
The New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) and the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) have opened a new Call Center at the women’s Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County which, in conjunction with the DMV Call Center at the men’s Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island, is expected to answer more than one million calls per year while saving State taxpayers $3.5 million annually.
Bedford Hills’ center accepts calls from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. It employs 39 inmates, including 31 full-time and part-time customer service agents, six team leaders and two trainers. The inmate participants do not have access to DMV computers and are not able to access any customer data. Inmates convicted of a telephone-related crime or credit card or computer fraud are not eligible to work at the center. Calls are monitored at random.
Each call center agent is supplied with a profile book containing all the information necessary to answer general assistance questions, such as office hours and locations, identification requirements, the emissions program, and what customers will need and what they should expect before visiting a DMV office. Agents transfer any questions about detailed customer information to a civilian DMV employee.
DOCS Commissioner Brian Fischer said: “This program benefits both offenders and taxpayers, providing offenders with valuable and marketable skills that help them during incarceration and prepare them for successful reintegration into the community, while providing immediate and recurring savings to taxpayers. We are happy to open a new chapter in our partnership with the Department of Motor Vehicles on a program that has been a success now for nearly a quarter of a century.”
DMV Commissioner David J. Swarts said: “The opening of the new Call Center at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility represents not only cost savings for New York taxpayers, but also provides valuable job skills to those inmates who work in the program. Our experience with similar operations at other New York State correctional facilities has also shown that such Centers provide high-quality service to citizens who call with general questions about DMV transactions.”
The center at the maximum security Bedford Hills facility replaces DOCS’ original DMV call center, which opened at the women’s medium security Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan in March 1986. The decline in the State’s prison population and the one-year commitment inmates must make to working in the DMV call centers necessitated the move to Bedford Hills. Additionally, Bayview opened a specialized re-entry unit on June 29, 2009 to help female offenders nearing release with the more immediate aspects of preparing to return home. Bayview officially closed its call center on December 3, 2010.
The men’s medium security Arthur Kill Correctional Facility has been operating its DMV Call Center since 1988, currently employing 55 inmates. Arthur Kill’s center fields about 55,000 calls per month, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the majority of calls coming from New York City, Long Island and Westchester and Rockland counties through one of two local lines or a toll-free line. About 1,200 inmates have worked at the Arthur Kill Call Center since it opened. As with Bedford Hills, the inmate participants at Arthur Kill have no access to DMV computers and are unable to access any customer data, and those convicted of a telephone-related crime or credit card or computer fraud are not eligible to work at the center.
Providing information by phone and materials by mail, the centers significantly reduce the number of customers who unnecessarily visit DMV offices.
Each inmate who works in a DMV call center must have either a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED/high school equivalency) diploma. Each is hired by DMV after being recommended by DOCS. Some inmates work as mail and supply clerks, maintaining the DMV supply room where all DMV forms are stored and assembling packets known as “Ready Packs,” which are mailed to the public upon request.
Participating inmates learn skills aimed at making them more marketable upon release from prison, including customer service, communication and problem solving, as well as “soft skills.” The program also provides participants with knowledge of vehicle and traffic law, permits, renewals, Commercial Drivers Licenses, fee structures, non-driver IDs and how to convert out-of-state licenses to New York State licenses. Participants are also taught conflict resolution skills, public interaction techniques and appropriate workplace behaviors. These skills are transferable to telemarketing and survey/polling positions, and in a service- based economy, such skills are critical to re-entry success.
Participating inmates are paid standard hourly industry wages that range from 46 cents to $1.14 per hour based on experience level and title, which include Agent (entry level), Trainer and Team Leader.
If the nayboobs bothered to read up about the program, they would have learned that the inmates participating in the program do NOT have any access to information such as social security numbers, VIN numbers, etc. Furthermore, inmates who have been incarcerated for financial crimes and identity theft are NOT allowed to participate in the program.
Bottomline - the program saves the state taxpayers money and helps rehabilitate and train prison inmates -- it is a win-win as far as I am concerned. Great program -- lets hope we can come up with more ways to save taxpayer money AND accomplish goals that benefit society at the same time.
that's just great....so how about providing those jobs to the folks who needs the bennies and $$$$$$$$$$ that get DSS????
really? so a convict is only happy with a whitecollar job? they get irritated plumbing/building picnic tables etc????
why did I even bother educating myself? oh wait...I know....because I HAD TO, SO I COULD SURVIVE......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
The internet is NOT the only media for obtaining news -- so if someone hears something on a news program broadcast on a radio station or sees and hears it broadcast on a television station, it is not possible to "provide a link" ------ and not being able to provide a link does NOT make something "hearsay".
You folks may spend all day glued to a computer screen -- the rest of us are busy all day .. working hard and going about life.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
The internet is NOT the only media for obtaining news -- so if someone hears something on a news program broadcast on a radio station or sees and hears it broadcast on a television station, it is not possible to "provide a link" ------ and not being able to provide a link does NOT make something "hearsay". WE HEARD YOUR BEFORE !!! NOTHING ORIGINAL TO SAY TROLL! You folks may spend all day glued to a computer screen -- the rest of us are busy all day .. working hard BEST JOKE YET...YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT IT MEANS TO WORK FOR A LIVING...AND PAY TAXES! GROW UP...get a real job; pay your share...THEN come talk to us and THEN you can make statements like you do....until then you are the same pitiful nobody. and going about life.
CLICK CLICK SCRAPE OOOPS...WHAT WAS THAT NOISE???? Must be the eyes watching you..................
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
The internet is NOT the only media for obtaining news -- so if someone hears something on a news program broadcast on a radio station or sees and hears it broadcast on a television station, it is not possible to "provide a link" ------ and not being able to provide a link does NOT make something "hearsay".
You folks may spend all day glued to a computer screen -- the rest of us are busy all day .. working hard and going about life.