A new educational opportunity is coming to the inmates of the Warren County Jail.

Provided through the company Edovo, the company would lease tablets to the jail that provide an avenue for inmates to complete work towards a CDL, GED or a ServSafe certification.

The cost would be $2.50 per unit per day but said that commissary funds could be used since it is an inmate benefit, leaving no direct cost to the county.

Warden Jon Collins said the program would also provide life skills and religion programs and “hopefully reduce recidivism rates” and empower inmates to “potentially be more productive in the community.”

Collins said other counties have offered positive feedback on the program.

Commissioner Jeff Eggleston called it a “benefit to the people that act properly.”

Collins said that inmates would have to go through a classification committee to determine who will benefit the most from the service.

Bill Gallagher, the county’s IT contractor, said that there were “multiple elements that needed from some review from an IT perspective” when the project was first presented.

That included reducing the number of tablets from the company’s minimum implementation of 40 as well as wireless infrastructure.

Gallagher said there is a parallel project going on at the jail that requires wireless infrastructure and officials “didn’t want to see two wireless systems built out at the jail at the same time.”

He told the commissioners that the company agreed to reduce the minimum number of tablets from 40 to 20 and also agreed to allow their service to run on county wireless infrastructure.

Gallagher said that results in the capital cost dropping from $30,000 to $5,000 and the monthly recurring cost by $700.

“This seems like a very good use of that fund,” Eggleston said.

Collins said it would also benefit staff because inmates would be involved in the programming and also earn entertainment time as a result which could potentially avoid behavioral problems.

The commissioners approved the program unanimously at a recent meeting.