JCCC License Plate Factory Producing Millions of New Plates

   
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Offenders at the Jefferson City Correctional Center (JCCC) license plate factory have produced more than 2.3 million newly-designed license plates. The Missouri Vocational Enterprises (MVE) factory is open five days a week and is producing about 40,000 plates daily. The factory is expected to produce more than eight million plates this year and five million plates in 2009. The Missouri Department of Revenue will introduce the newly-designed plate on June 16, 2008. The new design displays a bluebird sitting on a hawthorn branch.

"We parallel it to the last time Missouri changed the design of its license plates ten years ago," JCCC Warden Dave Dormire told the Horizon. "Ten years ago we did entire double shifts. It's busy but not quite as stressful as before, because you can get a two-year license plate now."

MVE is a section within the Missouri Department of Corrections established by state statute to create relevant job training for offenders, so that they may become productive citizens upon release. MVE operates four factories at JCCC: the license plate factory, as well as factories which produce furniture, graphic arts and engraving.

"I need jobs and programs to make sure our inmates are doing something productive," Dormire said. "MVE is an excellent program, and it keeps the offenders productive, rather than what they'd be doing if they had nothing else to do."

Dormire told the Horizon the license plate factory is teaching the 71 offender workers important job skills. That number will increase to 91 in a few weeks when new equipment arrives.

"License plates are a manual operation, because every plate has to be stamped," Dormire said. "It's labor-intensive, and they're learning good skills. They learn to operate equipment as well, which will assist those offenders in the future."

When Missouri introduces the newly-designed plate in mid-June, the new license plates will be available at the Missouri Department of Revenue's motor vehicle office and all contract offices.

The new plate configuration will assist law enforcement in quickly identifying the proper registration of all vehicles.

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