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closePrison construction program featured in documentary
Ashley Coats
Special to the Gateway
Although the Washington Corrections Center for Women has received national recognition for innovative programs aimed at rehabilitating female offenders, the Trades Related Apprenticeship and Coaching program is a lesser-known initiative that is the topic of a new documentary film.
“This class has absolutely had a big part in changing my perspective,” said Nadia Ibrahimi, a recent TRAC Program graduate who is among several current and former offenders featured in “A Hard Trade: Rebuilding Broken Lives.”
TRAC, like other programs at the prison near Purdy, provides education and job training intended to reduce the probability that women will re-offend upon release. TRAC trains offenders to become laborers, carpenters and iron workers.
Upon completion of the 14-week program, participants’ skills are tested. If they pass, the women are immediately eligible to become apprentices who can make union wages.
Independent filmmaker Emilie Firn, a student at Pacific Lutheran University, took an interest in the TRAC program, and with the support of PLU’s MediaLab, decided to produce a documentary.
“I think (TRAC) is a really unique program,” Firn said. “It’s amazing how much it changes (the offenders). Their attitudes about life and themselves changed dramatically.”
Since its creation nearly a decade ago, the program has graduated nearly 200 women. While the average rate for female offenders in Washington is close to 50 percent, TRAC graduates re-offend at a rate of less than 5 percent.
“I’m just here passing on the torch to the next set of ironworkers, or carpenters, or laborers,” said Denise Johnsen, TRAC program manager. “In this aspect, being here in prison, it’s double the special feeling, because I’m helping to change women’s lives.”
A senior communication major, Firn has traveled to Gig Harbor several times a week since September 2008 to conduct interviews, perform research and gather footage for the documentary.
Firn followed the progress of students in one particular TRAC class, from the first day of the program until their graduation more than three months later. She continued to film the stories of some women even after their release from prison.
Firn was chosen for the assignment by PLU Communication Professor and MediaLab faculty adviser Robert Marshall Wells. MediaLab is an award-winning, student-faculty research program at PLU.
“I guess I’m the one who initially had the idea and the contacts for the documentary,” said Wells, a Gig Harbor resident. “Emilie has done a lot of shorter pieces in the past. (“A Hard Trade”) just seemed to be a way to cap her experience at PLU.”
“A Hard Trade” is the third documentary film produced by MediaLab students at PLU under the direction of Wells. The first two have won numerous regional and national awards and have been viewed by audiences on PBS TV and elsewhere.
The premiere of “A Hard Trade: Rebuilding Broken Lives,” is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the main branch of the Tacoma Public Library, 1102 Tacoma Ave. S.
In addition to the documentary premiere, the event will feature a panel discussion that will include Firn, Wells, Johnsen, PLU Sociology Professor Kate Luther and state Rep. Mary Helen Roberts of Lynnwood, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee.
Jessica Baumer, a PLU senior and MediaLab member who is the event coordinator, said she hopes members of the community will attend the event “so they have a better understanding” of the TRAC Program.
“It’s a story of hope and redemption,” Baumer said. “People can hit bottom, and rise back again.”
Firn voiced similar feelings about the significance of the programs provided by the Washington Corrections Center for Women.
“Some of these women have similar backgrounds to my own, but they went down the wrong path at one point or another,” Firn said. “Any of us could find ourselves in a situation like these women in the TRAC program.”