NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With the state’s current financial struggles, officials are looking to the public to volunteer at state prisons.

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The state is about $1 billion in the hole for this year and next, and prison officials are looking for ways to offset the shortfall.

Officials said they are looking for hundreds of local volunteers to go behind the walls of prisons and work with inmates on programs from money management to home economics.

While on the inside, criminals are nothing more than people trying to make a change with volunteers like the Rev. Grant Stevenson there to help them.

Stevenson teaches an anger management class at the Tennessee Prison for Women by helping inmates figure out how to keep their emotions in check.

"It has a worth more than a paycheck. It's a peace that you're really helping people and reaching out to people who otherwise may not have this opportunity," he said.

"I think I have the tools to stop and think through it before I just go and do something without thinking about the consequences," one inmate said.

This weekend, prison officials are scouting for more volunteers like Stevenson who are willing to mentor inmates on a variety of life skills that will help them become law-abiding citizens when their time is served.

"Our state is at a point where we can't continue to build more prisons. We don't have enough money to offer programs for every offender with the current staff that we do, so we look toward our volunteers to offer programs," said Tennessee Department of Corrections representative Richard Dixon.

On Wednesday, 10 inmates will graduate from Stevenson’s class with diploma in hand, but what they really gained over the past eight weeks is something that isn’t tangible.

"They make a lot of sacrifices to help someone the rest of the world has turned their back on. That is very inspiring for our self confidence, self esteem, and for our rehabilitation and our return to the world," said inmate Ella Qualls.

For people who are interested in becoming a prison volunteer, there is a faith-based training event on Friday and Saturday in Hendersonville.

For more information, click here.