39 inmates at Mississippi prison receive their GED and diploma after completing coursework

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Thirty-nine inmates at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility are receiving their diplomas after years of secondary education coursework.

Completion certificates were also given in Business technology and in Apparel and Textiles.

College coursework was also awarded at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman where 18 inmates received certificates of completion for their first three hours of college credit. This through the prison’s new alliance with Mississippi Delta Community College.

“Anything you want to do in this life is going to start with the mind itself,” said one graduate, Jacob Walker. “For you to have a positive life, you need to educate yourself.”

“You can always change,” added DeCarolos Jenkins, another graduate. “You can always do things for the community to send a message to the younger guys out there who might be on the wrong road that there’s a chance.”

MDOC is offering vocational programs in welding, truck driving, forklift and industrial operations, and construction.

Commissioner Burl Cain is now securing funds to install training simulators at Mississippi’s three state prisons.