For county prisoners, jail’s a school

Between laundry shifts at the Spokane County Jail, inmate Maria Fuentes practices using a calculator and graphing coordinates on a grid.

The 42-year-old is preparing for a GED math exam.

“I’m nervous,” said Fuentes, whose life has been riddled with crime stemming from drug and alcohol abuse. “I really want my GED.”

With the academic year in full swing, Fuentes is among more than 100 inmates enrolled in the jail’s general equivalency diploma program.

Spokane County Jail graduates an average of 68 inmates per year, the highest of Washington’s largest county jails. King County saw just 46 of its inmates earn GEDs through its jail program last year, while Pierce County has no program at all.

At a time when state and county corrections officials across Washington are looking for ways to reduce the number of ex-cons returning to lives of crime, Spokane appears to be leading the way. Among the local program’s strengths is the use of a commissioned deputy who also is a certified GED test proctor.

“It’s the only thing we are doing that lets us be a true correctional facility,” said Deputy Douglas Gossard, who administers the GED tests.

The basic education course at Spokane County Jail is offered through a collaborative effort between Community Colleges of Spokane’s Institute for Extended Learning and the jail, a relationship that began 33 years ago.

But the jail’s program really gained strength in 1997 when the Sheriff’s Office created a full-time position for a corrections deputy who also was certified to administer the GED tests, an anomaly in Washington, said Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich.

Gossard is the second official at the Sheriff’s Office to become certified to administer GED tests. He received his authorization in 2000 after a six-month training program through the Adult Education Center in Spokane, which is overseen by the Washington Association of Community and Technical Colleges.

“It’s almost harder to become a GED instructor than it is to get top-security clearance,” Gossard joked.

Three CCS faculty members work with the inmates, teaching the skills they need to pass the five sections of the GED: reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies. When the inmates think they are ready to take the exam, the faculty gives Gossard a list of people. He gathers the inmates and takes them to a testing room, which has a classroomlike atmosphere.

“Having a GED examiner who is both security and a tester makes a huge difference,” said James A. Burgen, an instructor who has worked in the jail for 17 years. “Without him, the program would be slowed to a crawl.”

At the program’s peak, 113 inmates graduated in one academic year, officials said. But Gossard’s commitment to the GED program was reduced to part time because of staffing constraints, Knezovich said. That’s why the number of graduates has decreased.

Tests used to be administered twice a day, and now it’s about once a week, Gossard said.

But Knezovich said he’s working with the county commissioners to get more staffing, so positions like Gossard’s can be spent on one task at the jail rather than several.

Getting people educated helps them out of the cycle of poverty and crime, Knezovich said. It gives people a chance to improve their lives, which in turn helps the community.

For inmates whose lives are disjointed, and often dysfunctional outside of a correctional facility, the opportunity to obtain a basic degree is considered a blessing.

“Out there they told me I was no good,” Fuentes said. “But in here, it’s encouraging. I’m getting all the tools I need for when I get out of here.”

Statistics have shown that education in jails reduces recidivism rates.

“You could just arrest them and let them sit here, but we give them an opportunity to improve themselves,” said Spokane County Jail Lt. Joanne Lake, who oversees the program. “Maybe it takes multiple exposures, but it’s something.”

Fuentes has been in and out of the county jail multiple times, during which she gradually has worked on her GED.

“Without it you don’t go nowhere,” Fuentes said. “You go in a circle. I’m tired of living this lifestyle. I want to do something to prepare for a better future.”