By Lisa Trigg
CARLISLE — Getting a state identification card may seem a simple thing. Just show a few documents to prove who you are, and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles will issue the free photo ID card.
But that’s not the case for many people recently released from prison. In many cases, all they have for identification is a prison ID card, and many places will not accept that ID to cash checks or apply for jobs.
So, in an example of state agencies working together, the Indiana Department of Correction and the BMV have teamed up to start the ID card process for inmates before they are released from prison.
On Wednesday, the Mobile BMV vehicle was at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility churning out those ID cards for offenders who are approaching the end of their prison sentence.
“It’s a huge step,” offender Antwain Turetine said as he waited outside the Mobile BMV unit. “It’ll help you get through the door.”
Turetine, now 23, was 18 when he was sentenced to the Department of Correction for dealing drugs. Since then, he has completed his General Equivalency Diploma and once released hopes to attend Ivy Tech Community College to become an electrician.
Since teaming up with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Department of Correction re-entry director Dave Birch said more than 1,300 ID cards have been issued at six different state facilities.
The offenders have time to send off for the documents needed to prove their identity to create a packet that can be handed to the Mobile BMV staff to expedite the process. The ID is then held for the offender until his or her release date.
“Essentially, it’s the same ID as anyone else gets,” Birch said. “They would have to get one when they get out anyway.”
Mobile BMV unit manager James Green oversaw the process with the offenders on Wednesday, and told Birch the process has been a great help to the BMV.
“It helps at the branches, because when these guys come in later, they’d have to have more info and documents than they do now,” Green said.
During the course of two days at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, the Mobile BMV unit was expected to produce 220 ID cards for offenders to be released through 2010.
Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com.
