Commercial Cabinet Shop To Reopen as Prisoner Training Center
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RED BLUFF, CA  -  Shaffer Cabinets will transform itself into a woodworking skills training center for county prisoners. California's Tehama County Commissioners voted to lease the Red Bluff, CA shop, and contracting with owner Mike Shaffer to teach cabinetmaking.

The Shaffer Cabinet inmate woodworking training is part of a statewide effort to relieve the financial burden and overcrowding in jails. Terms of the deal with Shaffer Cabinets, approved December 17 and reported in Tehama County Commissioners minutes, place the operation under the Chief Probation Officer Richard Muench, for "offenders under supervised released."

Shaffer Cabinets was first established in 1988 by Walter Shaffer, who originally did custom cabinetry and laminated plastic casework. Mike Shaffer took over the business in 1992, specializing in residential cabinetry and commercial architectural millwork and woodworking.

"Artistic finishes are our specialty," Mike Shaffer says at his website. "Our cabinets are built with the highest integrity using the finest hardware available. Our products are guaranteed for life. We are able to produce all interior and exterior cabinetry to customers specifications."

Shaffer will provide woodworking and cabinetry training to supervised release participants at the   Tehama County Woodworking Shop - the new name for Shaffer Cabinets during the program -  "for an all-inclusive flat fee of $3,600/month and compensation shall not exceed $86,400," according to the agreement, which begins today and ends December 31, 2015, and is "subject to receipt of required insurance documentation."

In addition, the woodshop will be leased for $3,050 monthly. Funds for the effort came from a contingency reserve and were Realignment to  Contingency, $159,600; and from Contingency to Professional Services $159,600. Eight to 10 workers will be in training at any given time, according to a report at the Red Bluff Daily News, which reported that Shaffer was planning on closing the shop. Production from the woodshop training program will be used in government agencies.

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