BENTONVILLE — Some inmates in the Benton County Jail will have an opportunity to complete their high school education while behind bars.
NorthWest Arkansas Community College will partner with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office to help interested inmates pass the General Educational Development test, Maj. Rob Holly said.
Ben Aldama, college dean of adult education, said the college approached the Sheriff’s Office about teaching the classes to inmates. Aldama said he and Sheriff Kelley Cradduck discussed the idea before Cradduck took office this year.
“It’s still in the preliminary stages,” Aldama said of the program. A start date hasn't been set.
The classes will be paid through state and federal money from the Arkansas Department of Career Education, Aldama said.
“I’m pretty excited about the possibilities,” Aldama said. “It will be something new for our program, and I think we can make an impact and help people focus on, and continue, their education.”
An informal survey shows about 40 percent of the jail’s inmates don’t have a high school diploma, Holly said. The jail housed 492 prisoners Friday.
“The whole idea is to reduce recidivism,” Holly said. “We feel it is a proactive way to target recidivism.”
The classes will not be offered for inmates awaiting transfer to the Arkansas Department of Correction. “The DOC has its own programs, so those people will not be our focus,” Holly said. The classes also will not be open to any violent offenders.
Sheriff’s Office officials want to focus the classes on people serving sentences out of district and circuit courts, along with prisoners being held for trial. The classrooms will be in the four areas where inmates attend religious services, Holly said.
“We have explained that the faces of the classes may constantly change because individuals come in and out of the jail,” Holly said.
Major Randall Denzer with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said his office began offering GED classes for male inmates about 15 years ago and now offer the classes to female inmates as well. Denzer said a few inmates receive their GEDs each year.
Holly likes the program because a person could begin classes in the county jail and if released could finish the classes at the Bentonville college and still receive a GED.
The number of inmates who will participate will depend on the college and how many inmates college officials think they can handle. Holly hopes prisoners who participate and take the classes seriously and use them as an opportunity to turn their lives around.
Cradduck, who proposed holding GED classes for inmates at the jail while running for office last year, said he'll look at any program that could reduce recidivism.
“People with an education have better job opportunities and may not be out there committing crimes and creating more victims,” Cradduck said.