Join Our Mission

There are three ways you can work with TRICOR – through our partnership program, as a customer, or as a post-release employer. No matter what the relationship is, you can feel good knowing you are contributing to TRICOR’s great mission – “To prepare offenders for success after release.”

Partnership Program

TRICOR offers qualified business partners a creative workforce solution. Our partners’ production operations are brought inside the prison, where raw materials are transformed to quality finished products. We offer a valuable resource to help you meet your business objectives, while offering our offender workforce the opportunity to learn valuable job skills.   

Our partners have found offender labor to be quality-focused and cost effective.

TRICOR partners also enjoy knowing they are helping the community. Not only are they teaching  valuable job skills and lowering recidivism, but our partners are also helping to offset an offender’s current cost of incarceration One  way that our partners help offset the cost of incarceration is that 35% of all offender wages go to offset the cost of training programs.   Another 5% goes to the Victim’s Restitution Fund. The remaining money may go back to an offender’s family to help out with the family’s education, children’s activities or simply the family’s survival.

TRICOR presently holds certification authority from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) through the Private Sector/Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIE). This authority allows state prison industries to sell manufactured goods in interstate commerce and to bid on Federal contracts. BJA contracts the administrative components of the PIE program to the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). The NCIA is an affiliate body of the American Correctional Association and The Jail Industries Association.

Be a TRICOR Customer

Organizations authorized to purchase TRICOR products and services (TCA 41-22-116 & 119,) include:

  • Government agencies, including state, county and municipal governments
  • Not-for-profit corporations in Tennessee
  • Private contractors in Tennessee who purchase goods for subsequent use by a public agency or a non-profit organization
  • Private corporations under the Private Sector/Prison Industry Enhancement (PS/PIE) Program

No Bidding Required

No bidding is required for most purchases from TRICOR. Local laws or charters may differ.

Customer Support

The TRICOR Customer Support staff will assist you with orders or arrange for an account specialist to visit you. Office hours are Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. CST. Give us a call at (615) 741-5705 or call toll free (800) 958-7426.

Fax Orders

To speed processing time, fax your authorized purchase order to TRICOR Customer Support at (615) 741-2747. It is NOT necessary to mail the original purchase order. However, if the original purchase order is subsequently mailed for confirmation, the original must be marked “Confirming Order-Original order sent via FAX.”

Mail Orders

Authorized purchase orders may also be sent by first class or state messenger mail to Customer Support.

TRICOR Customer Support
6185 Cockrill Bend Circle
Nashville, TN 37209

Post-release Employer

TRICOR provides post-release services and assists in their job search after release. We identify and work closely with businesses willing to offer employment opportunities to returning citizens and benefit from their skills, motivation and desire to change their lives. 

TRICOR training programs and professional certifications include:

  • Administrative and Business Services: The TRICOR administrative team is trained to work in various software applications, including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Adobe (Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator), and SAGE Mass 500. They also train offender workers how to work in a professional office environment and perform basic office functions such as data entry, data scanning and archival services.
  • Call Center: Our call center participants are trained to effectively communicate with customers and apply learned marketing skills as they process outbound calls in both the Business to Business and Business to Consumer markets.
  • Building Trades: Students are trained in the fundamentals and advanced stages of construction. They complete courses for college credit and are nationally certified through the National Center in Construction Education and Research (NCCER) in Construction Core, Carpentry 1 and 2, Electrical 1 and 2, and Plumbing 1 & 2 and HVAC 1. Participants also receive Forklift Certification.
  • Manufacturing: Workers perform tasks using commercial/industrial machinery associated with textile and license plate manufacturing and print production. Certification for this group is primarily in Forklift.

Incentives for Hiring a Former Offender

Financial Incentives

The U.S. Department of Labor maintains two programs that provide incentives for companies to hire former offenders, including:

  • The Federal Building program allows companies who cannot obtain bonding or insurance from their own providers to bond ex-offenders, ranging from $5,000 - $25,000 for up to six months, and this is renewable.
  • The Work Opportunity Tax Credit program provides up to $2,400 in tax credits to companies for every offender they hire.

Reliable, Motivated and Loyal Workforce

  • Finding employment for returning citizens is not easy. By giving them a chance to succeed, it may build employee engagement and loyalty, which can lead to increased employee retention.
  • Most returning citizens are still on parole or probation and are held accountable by their parole and probation officers every month. TRICOR through its Offender Programs division also provides post release support for up to three years.
  • The returning citizens have received training in areas other employees may not have received, related to professionalism, reliability, customer service, and work ethic.

Social Responsibility

  • Employers support the returning citizens as taxpayers, which reduces recidivism, supports public safety, creates safer communities and increases the tax paying base.
  • TRICOR’s recidivism rate is only 24% compared to the national rate as reported by the Pew study of 43%