Multi-Billion Dollar Federal ‘Job Corps’ Is A Breeding Ground For Rape And Crime, Data Show

A multi-billion dollar federal program pays hardened adult criminals and runaway teens to live together in dormitory-like environments run by companies with lucrative contracts, leading to thousands of young people being hurt in recent years.

The Department of Labor’s Job Corps operates 131 facilities where low-income people ages 16 to 24 can live while being paid to gain a high school diploma and certification in trades like plumbing. Created in the 1960s, it has transformed into something between a prison and a college, gathering people from the margins of society and housing them in cinderblock dormitories where they fight, rape, and sell drugs to each other, data exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire shows.

More than 500 sexual assaults have been reported at Job Corps facilities in the last three years, including a male student climbing through a female student’s window and raping her as she slept, according to a source with knowledge of the program.

Inner-city 24-year-olds are housed with vulnerable 16-year-old dropouts, who are exploited by predators. Last year, a 16-year-old girl who identified as a transgender boy, and whom the Job Corps apparently enabled to be separated from her parents, was assigned to room with a 23-year-old man at the Glenmont Job Corps near Albany, New York. Demetrius Fair allegedly intimidated his “roommate” into performing oral sex on him before pinning her to the bed and raping her.

Then there were 4,600 reported violent assaults and 8,000 drug-related incidents over the past three years, the source said. And those numbers likely significantly understate the reality, since a tolerance for criminal behavior is endemic to the culture and only the most severe incidents are recorded.

Eligibility requirements say that only people on welfare or living in poverty are eligible for the Job Corps, that refugees and non-citizen parolees are eligible, and that “no individual shall be denied enrollment in Job Corps solely on the basis of contact with the criminal justice system, except for the disqualifying felony convictions of murder…, child abuse, or a crime involving rape or sexual assault.”

The program requires that applicants not be able to read at higher than an eighth grade level, saying they must be “unable to compute or solve problems… at a level necessary to function on the job, in the individual’s family, or in society,” or he must be homeless, a runaway, a high school dropout, or a victim of sex trafficking.

Staff are trained to tell applicants, “I see that you have (describe gang-related behavior, symbol, activity). Do you agree that if you are admitted to Job Corps, you will not (use/wear/display) (list behavior or symbols, etc.)?”

According to local news articles, in 2024, 23-year-old Rudolfo Mesa was charged with attempted criminal sexual penetration of a child for his alleged conduct at the Roswell, New Mexico campus. A teen girl was standing around a patio with two other girls when Mesa allegedly grabbed her by the wrist, exposed himself, and pushed her down. Mesa eventually pulled up his pants, told the girls “good night,” and walked away, according to the Roswell Daily Record. Mesa grinned in his mugshot.

That same year, a teacher at the Pinellas County Job Corps in Florida, 54-year-old Ralph Kitzmiller, was charged with six counts of transmitting child pornography. At the Trapper Creek Job Corps in Montana, two “students” allegedly teamed up to sexually assault someone in their room. Kodia Mashkiki Selt Hoskins, 18, and Kaden Anthony Canono, 19, were charged.

Also in 2024, 19-year-old Paxston Avery Allman, a member of the Atterbury Job Corps in Indiana, was arrested for allegedly uploading child sexual abuse material.

Democrats have cast the Job Corps program in altruistic rhetoric about helping the marginalized become productive members of society. But participants have said that the clientele is so overwhelmingly toxic that well-intentioned participants are more likely to be dragged down.

On Reddit, one resident of the Sierra Nevada Job Corps in Nevada said it “was the scariest time of my life,” with “so much harassment, knives, guns, gangs, rape, attacks, and more.”

“Most of the 16-18 year old were people from Juvi who were given a choice of juvenile detention or going to job corps… If someone said you did something, a mob of people would come beat the sh** out of you even if it wasn’t you,” he wrote. “We also had Samoans at the job corps, TONS of them! One was caught in the air conditioning ducts trying to get into another guys room during the night.”

In December, a continuing resolution funding bill, agreed to by Republican and Democrat appropriators, would have locked in $1.8 billion annually in funding for Job Corps through 2030, but the bill did not ultimately pass Congress. It incorporated a bill from Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) that explicitly aimed to tolerate more misbehavior in the Corps, adding in a provision adding an appeals process to “an enrollee who has engaged in an activity which is a violation of the guidelines…remain enrolled in the program.”

The Job Corps pays students to attend, including $1,200 upon completion, and recruiters lure them in. The program is a bonanza for contractors, such as Management & Training Corp. of Utah, which has raked in $200 million, Adams and Associates Inc. of Nevada, which took in $158 million, and Career Systems Development Corp. of New York, which earned $82 million.

A source with knowledge of the situation said the Trump administration is closely examining the program, suggesting the $1.8 billion program’s 50-year run could be nearing an end, though contractors are likely to lobby to preserve the revenue stream.

In the 2010s, “Job Corps Fights” became a viral sensation on YouTube. A typical video was titled “Clearfield job corps punk a** n***a stole the homies bucket and ended up getting decked in the face.”

A CBS investigation from that time period obtained video of a student cutting lines of white powder on a textbook during class. The head of security at a Job Corps facility told CBS he was pressured not to report crimes, because doing so could jeopardize the contractor’s funding. A Job Corps “career adviser” told CBS that 85% of the “job placements” reported by the contractor were fake, existing only to trick Congress about the efficacy of the program, and to get bonuses for staff who hit targets. Another teacher said students wouldn’t show up to class, but were certified as welders anyway, potentially creating safety issues for anyone who hired the person.

An inspector general report found that Job Corps graduates often wound up in fast food jobs that did not require any “training.” GEDs can be obtained for free from public schools, and unions often offer free training in the trades.

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​[[{“value”:”

A multi-billion dollar federal program pays hardened adult criminals and runaway teens to live together in dormitory-like environments run by companies with lucrative contracts, leading to thousands of young people being hurt in recent years.

The Department of Labor’s Job Corps operates 131 facilities where low-income people ages 16 to 24 can live while being paid to gain a high school diploma and certification in trades like plumbing. Created in the 1960s, it has transformed into something between a prison and a college, gathering people from the margins of society and housing them in cinderblock dormitories where they fight, rape, and sell drugs to each other, data exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire shows.

More than 500 sexual assaults have been reported at Job Corps facilities in the last three years, including a male student climbing through a female student’s window and raping her as she slept, according to a source with knowledge of the program.

Inner-city 24-year-olds are housed with vulnerable 16-year-old dropouts, who are exploited by predators. Last year, a 16-year-old girl who identified as a transgender boy, and whom the Job Corps apparently enabled to be separated from her parents, was assigned to room with a 23-year-old man at the Glenmont Job Corps near Albany, New York. Demetrius Fair allegedly intimidated his “roommate” into performing oral sex on him before pinning her to the bed and raping her.

Then there were 4,600 reported violent assaults and 8,000 drug-related incidents over the past three years, the source said. And those numbers likely significantly understate the reality, since a tolerance for criminal behavior is endemic to the culture and only the most severe incidents are recorded.

Eligibility requirements say that only people on welfare or living in poverty are eligible for the Job Corps, that refugees and non-citizen parolees are eligible, and that “no individual shall be denied enrollment in Job Corps solely on the basis of contact with the criminal justice system, except for the disqualifying felony convictions of murder…, child abuse, or a crime involving rape or sexual assault.”

The program requires that applicants not be able to read at higher than an eighth grade level, saying they must be “unable to compute or solve problems… at a level necessary to function on the job, in the individual’s family, or in society,” or he must be homeless, a runaway, a high school dropout, or a victim of sex trafficking.

Staff are trained to tell applicants, “I see that you have (describe gang-related behavior, symbol, activity). Do you agree that if you are admitted to Job Corps, you will not (use/wear/display) (list behavior or symbols, etc.)?”

According to local news articles, in 2024, 23-year-old Rudolfo Mesa was charged with attempted criminal sexual penetration of a child for his alleged conduct at the Roswell, New Mexico campus. A teen girl was standing around a patio with two other girls when Mesa allegedly grabbed her by the wrist, exposed himself, and pushed her down. Mesa eventually pulled up his pants, told the girls “good night,” and walked away, according to the Roswell Daily Record. Mesa grinned in his mugshot.

That same year, a teacher at the Pinellas County Job Corps in Florida, 54-year-old Ralph Kitzmiller, was charged with six counts of transmitting child pornography. At the Trapper Creek Job Corps in Montana, two “students” allegedly teamed up to sexually assault someone in their room. Kodia Mashkiki Selt Hoskins, 18, and Kaden Anthony Canono, 19, were charged.

Also in 2024, 19-year-old Paxston Avery Allman, a member of the Atterbury Job Corps in Indiana, was arrested for allegedly uploading child sexual abuse material.

Democrats have cast the Job Corps program in altruistic rhetoric about helping the marginalized become productive members of society. But participants have said that the clientele is so overwhelmingly toxic that well-intentioned participants are more likely to be dragged down.

On Reddit, one resident of the Sierra Nevada Job Corps in Nevada said it “was the scariest time of my life,” with “so much harassment, knives, guns, gangs, rape, attacks, and more.”

“Most of the 16-18 year old were people from Juvi who were given a choice of juvenile detention or going to job corps… If someone said you did something, a mob of people would come beat the sh** out of you even if it wasn’t you,” he wrote. “We also had Samoans at the job corps, TONS of them! One was caught in the air conditioning ducts trying to get into another guys room during the night.”

In December, a continuing resolution funding bill, agreed to by Republican and Democrat appropriators, would have locked in $1.8 billion annually in funding for Job Corps through 2030, but the bill did not ultimately pass Congress. It incorporated a bill from Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) that explicitly aimed to tolerate more misbehavior in the Corps, adding in a provision adding an appeals process to “an enrollee who has engaged in an activity which is a violation of the guidelines…remain enrolled in the program.”

The Job Corps pays students to attend, including $1,200 upon completion, and recruiters lure them in. The program is a bonanza for contractors, such as Management & Training Corp. of Utah, which has raked in $200 million, Adams and Associates Inc. of Nevada, which took in $158 million, and Career Systems Development Corp. of New York, which earned $82 million.

A source with knowledge of the situation said the Trump administration is closely examining the program, suggesting the $1.8 billion program’s 50-year run could be nearing an end, though contractors are likely to lobby to preserve the revenue stream.

In the 2010s, “Job Corps Fights” became a viral sensation on YouTube. A typical video was titled “Clearfield job corps punk a** n***a stole the homies bucket and ended up getting decked in the face.”

A CBS investigation from that time period obtained video of a student cutting lines of white powder on a textbook during class. The head of security at a Job Corps facility told CBS he was pressured not to report crimes, because doing so could jeopardize the contractor’s funding. A Job Corps “career adviser” told CBS that 85% of the “job placements” reported by the contractor were fake, existing only to trick Congress about the efficacy of the program, and to get bonuses for staff who hit targets. Another teacher said students wouldn’t show up to class, but were certified as welders anyway, potentially creating safety issues for anyone who hired the person.

An inspector general report found that Job Corps graduates often wound up in fast food jobs that did not require any “training.” GEDs can be obtained for free from public schools, and unions often offer free training in the trades.

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