LANSING — A recent audit report found that the Corrections Department offender vocational programs are effective overall.

Vocational programs are career and technical programs that teach inmates employment skills to use upon their release. Such programs include carpentry, cosmetology and welding.

For the report, the Office of the Auditor General assessed the Offender Success Administration, a group housed in the Corrections Department’s executive office. The auditor’s office is a nonpartisan investigative arm of the Legislature.

The department’s efforts were found to be “sufficient, with exceptions.”

The audit found that the department was successful in promoting employment opportunities through job fairs and employer tours of the vocational programs.

Additionally, the department was found effective in how it administers vocational program enrollments.

According to the performance audit, the number of inmates enrolling in and completing vocational programs has increased in recent years, from 191 in fiscal year 2021 to 831 in fiscal year 2023.

It also pointed to areas needing improvement, recommending that the administration address its data collection and evaluation and legislative reporting of program outcomes.

Kyle Kaminski, the department’s offender success administrator, said the department agrees that it needs to work on gathering more data to tell “a more complete story.”

He said it is working with other state agencies to gain access to post-release employment data. That would show longer-term outcomes from participating in vocational programs, such as future employment and wages.

However, the department faces some problems with data collection, Kaminski said.