
Most successful businesspeople know that past mistakes don’t have to determine a person’s future. And at J.F. Ingram State Technical College (ISTC), convicted offenders have opportunities every day to take a different path. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) recently provided 10 state-of-the-art commercial truck driving and forklift simulators to the college, offering new opportunities for students to perfect their skills and be prepared for new careers in transportation.
ISTC was established in 1965 to provide education and rehabilitation services to justice-involved individuals in Alabama. Based in Deatsville, the college offers classes and training at 32 sites across the state.
“It’s the only accredited technical college in the United States where the classrooms are inside the prison compound or behind razor wire and the entire student population is incarcerated or under state supervision,” says Annette Funderburk, president of Ingram State Technical College.
The new truck driving and forklift simulators will help ISTC further its goal of preparing incarcerated students for bright, productive future careers.
New Simulators Strengthen Existing Programs
ISTC launched its commercial driving license (CDL) training program in 2019 with one truck driving simulator. The college later secured a grant to provide a second CDL simulator for female students at the Tutwiler Instructional Service Center in Wetumpka, Funderburk says. The CDL program allows students to earn Class A or Class B Alabama Commercial Driver Licenses with endorsements.
All students enrolled in an ISTC program also receive forklift operator certification training. While Ingram provides technical training at 13 of its 32 sites across the state, the school only possessed three simulators, three CDL trucks and a handful of forklifts for training — until ADECA’s donation.
The new simulators were originally acquired through an Appalachian Regional Commission grant in 2023 to support a driving academy program in north Alabama, but they were returned to ADECA in 2024. ADECA identified ISTC to repurpose the equipment, allowing it to continue serving Alabamians in high-demand fields.
“The Alabama Community College System is doing great work to prepare and train Alabamians of all backgrounds for productive careers in the workforce,” said ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell, who presented the simulators to ISTC staff. “We are pleased that these simulators could be repurposed and given to Ingram State for use in the college’s commercial driver’s license and forklift training programs.”

The new equipment includes the SimuRide Professional Edition-Full Setup 3, SimuRide Forklift-Full Setup and Simu-Shift-Knob-2. All systems come pre-installed with necessary software, drivers and protective equipment to ensure a seamless training experience.
“The CDL program is one of our most popular and fastest growing programs,” Funderburk says. “The addition of these new driving simulators will provide our students with a safe, controlled environment to learn basic machinery mechanics. These advanced simulation technologies will enhance the popular CDL program and forklift training by allowing students to practice skills before hands-on equipment training. The simulators will improve student confidence, safety and preparedness during the credentialing process. With the simulators, we can expand the program while also allowing our students to hone their skills by giving them more time with their hands on steering wheels and feet on gas pedals.”
Ingram State leaders are enthusiastic about distributing these advanced training tools across the state, which will help facilitate forklift certification training and provide more accessible and technologically innovative learning opportunities for students.
“By providing access to state-of-the-art simulation equipment, these tools will help bridge training gaps and enhance workforce development for students in various educational settings,” Funderburk says. “With immersive, hands-on learning experiences within institutional settings, these simulators enable students to gain critical technical credentials like forklift certification, which can significantly enhance their employment prospects during the critical transition back into society.”
Advanced training tools like ISTC’s newly acquired simulators represent a strategic approach to workforce development that empowers individuals to acquire marketable skills that can be pivotal credentials in competitive job markets, Funderburk says. When students acquire forklift certification, they aren’t just equipped with practical technical abilities, but they also demonstrate their commitment to professional growth. That may give them a competitive advantage when they seek sustainable employment upon release.
Building on a Successful Foundation
The new simulators will add to a long tradition of successful job training for ISTC. For nearly 60 years, the college has provided education services to Alabama’s incarcerated population within the Alabama Department of Corrections.

The college is focused on reducing recidivism and strengthening the Alabama workforce. To those ends, it partners with the Alabama Department of Corrections and the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Parole (ABPP) to provide a career technical education in high-wage, high-demand fields to all justice-involved individuals in Alabama. Through this partnership of agencies, Ingram State currently serves justice-involved individuals from 20 correctional institutions and 12 ABPP locations.
During the 2023-24 academic year, Ingram State demonstrated significant educational achievements, serving more than 2,700 students with a strong focus on career and technical education, Funderburk says. The institution earned 1,658 credentials, maintained an impressive 83% term-to-term retention rate, and supported 1,489 adult education students. Notably, the correctional education program reached 22% of the population at Tutwiler Prison for Women, and the National Center for Construction Education and Research credentials saw a remarkable 202% increase from 2023 to 2024. These figures highlight ISTC’s commitment to comprehensive and expanding educational opportunities.
As an accredited member of the Alabama Community College System, Ingram State is an important part of the state’s educational efforts.
“Our job in the community college system is to present every student, no matter who they are or what they may have done in the past, the best opportunity to make their life better,” says Jimmy Baker, chancellor of the Alabama Community College System. “These donations from ADECA will allow these men and women, who have decided they want to do better, the opportunity to compete for a job in the career field of their choice upon their release.”
Nancy Mann Jackson is a Madison-based freelance contributor to Business Alabama.
This article appears in the January 2025 issue of Business Alabama.