STUDENTS EARN GED BEHIND BARS
ONLY 20 OUT OF 450 INMATES WHO APPLIED ARE ACCEPTED INTO THE PROGRAM
BY MERARI CALDERON RUIZ
It’ s difficult to concentrate in class when surrounded
by cement w a lls, wearing a prison uniform and being
watched by guards around the comer.
But that’s how class is for 20 students working on
their GED at the Clackamas County Jail.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office has a connec
tion with Clackamas Community College, which gives
an opportunity to people who have been incarcerated
to earn their GED.
Since winter of 2000, there has been a contract with
CCC and the jail in which students have the chance to
take classes towards their GED.
photo by Merari Calderon Ruiz
Assistant teacher Sammy Warner helps inmate Isaiah Wake with his math to prepare for his GED test.
Oadamas Print MAY H, 2016 triedadamasprinlcom
Sergeant Freeman said, “ We wanted to open it up to
where everyone is eligible to go, it doesn’t matter their
age or if they’re mandated to go.”
Potential students go through an application process
to become students. A maximum of 20 students are
allowed in class, both men and women.
Deputy Norm Johnson is in charge of the selection
process.
All the details are critical, from classification to edu
cation. Inmates who have already earned their diploma
have the opportunity to tutor other students.
“ I look through them and I pick 20 students out of
about 450 inmates we have here,” said Johnson. “ Every
week we lose people, because they get released, because
their time is up or sometimes they get transported to
another county. Pretty much we keep 20 inmates in the
class and keep it fu ll.”
Lauren Zavrel, a CCC instructor, works part time in the
skills development department and has been teaching
at the jail for two years.
In order to pass, students study math, reading, writing,
language arts and social studies. The classroom is unlike
anything on campus.
“ There is a disproportionate number of students
who are incarcerated who have documented and usually
undocumented learning disabilities, so you can imagine
what it’ s like if half of your students have ADHD and,
on top of that, other learning disabilities, confidence
issues, addiction problems,” Zavrel said.
“ People in jail are very distracted because they are
thinking about the past, they are thinking about their
future, they’re thinking about their families. They’re
thinking about where they are going to live when they
get out, so the environment is very chaotic.”
The instructors have a difficult job creating a consistent
and conductive learning environment.
“ I’m asking them to learn algebra and a lot of them
are just learning how to multiply,” Zavrel said.
Even when things get frustrating in the classroom,
the teachers are never alone.
“ I had a fight once after a class and it wasn’t anything
really serious, but it just makes you think,” said Zavrel.
“ It reminds you where you are, and that things can
happen sometimes that are not within your control.
Given what happened last October with Umpqua Com
munity College, I was here that day, and the thought
went through my mind that I usually feel safer teaching
in jail then I do on campus because it is a controlled
environment.”
“ If you have a problem you press a button, you pick up
a phone and people come charging in ready to diffuse
the situation, so that I’m completely removed from
having to deal with that.”