Nearly 60 inmates at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Coleman Unit graduated on Saturday.
LOCKHART, Texas — Around 60 incarcerated women in Lockhart graduated with their high school diplomas on Saturday.
Their graduation ceremony happened at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Coleman Unit.
“I’m lost for words,” said graduate Lameela Ressha Coleman. “There’s no words to explain how I feel about this. This is something I feel like, it was always those what ifs. Now I have this accomplished. So, there’s no more what ifs.”
The Excel Center provided the curriculum. It offers free high school to adults as old as 50 in Texas.
One study shows inmates who take part in education programs are 43% less likely to return to prison.
“A lot of us want to come home to help others out that are lost, as well as mend those things that we broke within our family,” said Coleman.
The Excel Center runs campuses at two Austin locations and inside five Texas prisons.
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