Graduation behind bars offers new chance for inmates
By Jason Peck
It could have been just another graduation ceremony.
"Pomp and Circumstance" played on the speakers. Family members with proud smiles watched their loved ones receive diplomas. A prominent figure, state senator Edd Houck, arrived to deliver the commencement speech.
The student speaker even quoted John F. Kennedy, just like they do in high schools across the country.
It was not, however, just another graduation.
The ceremony on Friday, May 9, was held behind the walls and barbed-wire fences of Coffeewood Correctional facility in Mitchells. And while family members stood in attendance, so too did the armed guards, who watched as more than 100 inmates received GEDs, college degrees, and certificates from the Virginia Department of Correctional Education (DCE). Fellow inmates cheered on their friends, all wearing prison denim or the new green jumpsuits.
"They fulfill the same requirements as our students on campus," said John Donnelly, Dean of Germanna Community College's Locust Grove branch. said. "And my feeling is that they're no different. So they deserve the same recognition as those students on campus."
But inmates had another reason to look forward to this day. The better their education, the better their chances at making a fresh start when released. In fact, a Virginia Tech study found that it made inmates 27 percent less likely to return to their old ways.
Daniel White, 24, appreciates the chance.
Four years ago the Fluvanna resident earned himself an eight-year sentence when he robbed a man while high on cocaine. He was sentenced to Powhatan Correction Center, until good behavior let him transfer down to the lower-security Coffeewood. There he earned his associate degree in business administration from Germanna.
"Just because we completed an education in prison doesn't diminish it," White said. "We have succeeded in an environment where others have failed.
"You try studying with 97 other men in a room when they've got nothing to do," he added. Other speakers offered their congratulations, including Phyllis Wilbur, the principal who spent 14 years helping more than 1,100 inmates graduate at Coffeewood. With her imminent retirement, this marked her last class.
"Because they're adults, we make sure they understand this is their second chance," the former public school teacher said. "The instructions are done one-on-one."
To Houck, the moment was about more than second chances. He recalled the days when he visited an incarcerated family member, and sympathized with family members.
"We're going to err, we're going to make mistakes," Houck said. "But the mistake's not important, it's the forgiveness that is. Once you forgive, you have the ability to move forward."
As each graduate received their diploma, the audience congratulated them with cheers that bounced off the brick walls of Coffeewood's small auditorium.
Sixty-year-old inmate Larry Smith received a certificate in small engine repair, and some of the loudest applause.
"Praise, glory and honor to God," he said. "To graduate at 60..."
Contact Jason peck at 825-9882, or e-mail jpeck@timespapers.com