He peers at the mouth model through his glasses.
“I like the idea of re-creating mouths and hopefully they’ll look a lot better than what they do today,” said Hancock, a prisoner from Columbus serving a life sentence at London Correctional Institution for aggravated murder. “It’s a lot like what I used to do, which is a brick mason. I’m creating something new. It’s very artistic.”
Hancock is one of three dozen inmates who landed jobs in the Ohio Penal Industries’ dental lab where they made 2,932 sets of dentures for fellow prisoners last year. The 1,600-square-foot lab is on the second floor of a 1920s-era red-brick building, just above a shop that makes brooms and brushes.
Each inmate checks out a tool kit at the beginning of his shift from a locked metal cage. The sharp instruments are carefully counted again when they break for prison count and lunch. The false teeth — thousands of them in various shades and shapes — are also kept under lock and key.
Drug abuse, fights and a lack of dental care contribute to significant and costly dental problems among Ohio’s 51,000 prisoners. Last year, the state estimated it saved $126,662 by making the dentures in-house and inmates received high-skill job training.
“Some of the strangest mouths I’ve seen, I’ve seen here. I tell these guys ‘If you can make appliances for the clients here, you can do it in any lab,’ ’’ said Jim Simpson, a certified dental technician who supervises the prison lab.
Simpson takes graduates from a Columbus State Community College training program at the prison and others who show aptitude.
“It’s going to be a career for me. By the time I get out, it’ll be five years toward my certification,” said William Givens of Springfield. For Givens, it’s the second go-around in the dental lab and the third time in prison. After his release in 2004, Givens missed out on a dental lab job in Springfield before landing in trouble again.
When he returned to prison for kidnapping and burglary, Givens wanted to get back to the dental lab for more training. “This job, from what I’ve experienced, it’s hard to get in here,” he said.
Not everyone missing a tooth qualifies for dentures, DRC spokeswoman Julie Walburn said. Only inmates serving more than three years and with at least six months left on their sentences qualify. Prisoners with poor periodontal health, chronic infections or a general lack of plaque control are ruled ineligible. And one- or two-tooth dentures are a lower priority than the more extensive reconstructive work.
Although the lab workers are paid 26 cents to 46 cents an hour in here, the technical training puts them in line for dental lab jobs outside that pay about $11 an hour to start and up to $25 an hour for experienced technicians.
Ted Valentini, general manager of Simon DeChatlet Dental Laboratories in Dayton, toured the prison lab four years ago to let inmates know that their training could pay off.
“There is such a shortage of skilled technicians in the workplace,” said Valentini. Only about 15 training schools remain in the U.S., he said.
Valentini’s lab typically has three or four openings a year, and five of his 28 technicians are ex-cons. He said he has never had a problem with a former inmate, although some have to work on their speed.
“When they sit down on the bench, that’s how they prove themselves,” Valentini said.
The inmates don’t necessarily get smiles of thanks from their clients in the prison system.
“We’re learning a trade, something we can take to the streets,” said inmate Joseph Cunningham, 33, who is serving a nine-year sentence for robbery and other charges. “That’s gratitude enough.”
Contact this reporter at (614)224-1624 or lbischoff@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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