2520 Lisburn Road, Camp Hill, PA 17011
Cambridge Springs
Optical Lab
PCI’s
Optical Laboratory at Cambridge Springs has been able to provide eye care
professionals and their patients with the upmost quality of lenses, eyewear,
craftsmanship and service to 27 State Correctional Institutions and other PA
State Agencies since 1988.
Throughout
the courses offered at Cambridge Springs, inmates are tested to measure their
knowledge and skills, so that they can receive a certificate for successful
completion of the curriculum. Unique to
this Corrections Education program is the partnership with PCI that gives
graduates of the course an opportunity to interview for employment in the
full-service Correctional Industries Optical Lab that carries a complete
inventory of frames and finish and semi-finish lenses and produces in excess of
14,000 pairs of glasses each year.
Inmate
workers are also trained in accounting, data entry, inventory tracking,
shipping and receiving. Inmates are also
introduced to Medicare codes for billing as well as the forms used by
commercial insurance companies. They are
taught to perform preventative equipment maintenance, troubleshooting potential
problems to come up with answers and solutions and making repairs on each piece
of equipment, equal to the equipment found in commercial optical labs.
In 2009, PCI
and Pennsylvania Bureau of Corrections Education partnered with the American
Board of Opticianry (ABO) to begin a six-month, intensive optical class
certification program for inmate workers that work in the Optical Lab. The ABO certificate combined with classroom
learning and lab experience using the same kinds of equipment used in
commercial optical labs makes these inmates very attractive candidates for jobs
on the outside upon release and reentry.
Since 2009, thirty-eight individuals have passed their ABO Certification
exams through the program offered at Cambridge Springs.
The
Correctional Industries Optical Lab currently services 27 Pennsylvania
Department of Corrections State Correctional Institutions, two Department of
Human Services State Hospitals and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection, while employing 20 inmates.