NEWTON, Kan. (AP) — The schoolroom is mostly quiet except for the click clack of computer keyboards.
One student spreads out papers on his desk. He wrenches up his sleeves as if winding up his mind in preparation for his task. A scroll of green tattoos snakes up his arm and disappears under his orange jumpsuit.
The walls are bare except for a few bookcases with tattered copies of religious texts, law books and classic Zane Greys. Through the thick reinforced glass you can see guards making their rounds and hear the buzz and clank behind a desk in the middle of the small classroom, empty except a pile of papers and a book. She is calm and poised to answer questions from her students all inmates of the Harvey County Detention Center.
Herman's students are involved in a new program at the jail speared-headed by Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton and USD 373. Herman is employed by Axtell Education Center, and the school district donated three computers to the jail program.
After a lapse in education programs at the jail, the new program was implemented six weeks ago.
Inmates who will have extended stays at the jail can do work toward a GED or Newton High School diploma.
Herman said her students are good to work with, and she quickly lost her fears about working with inmates in a locked facility.
She said many of the students appreciate the time they are allowed to leave their cells for the classroom and the opportunity to advance their education.
One young man with sandy brown hair said he was getting close to earning his high school diploma. The young man, who was in jail on a possession of marijuana charge, made it to his senior year before dropping out.
"As an inmate, I think we can do more to make amends. Before we get released, we get a chance to better ourselves, to take the GED or get further toward our diploma or graduation. I hope I can have further opportunities to get a better job.
"We can rebuild ourselves. We can challenge ourselves and get better insight on what we weren't doing to begin with," he said.
Another inmate talked about wanting to do better for his family.
"I think it is a pretty good program," the inmate said. "It gives us a chance to change our lives. I'm a father, and I want to support my children in a respectable manner, not illegal like selling drugs to support my family."
The program uses a computer program called Virtual Prescriptive Learning. The program tests the students to learn their abilities and then tells the teacher what skills the students need to work on.
The students can build basic skills in reading or math or earn high school class credits. About 40 courses are available through the computer program, which also is known as VPL.
"We have so many different types of leaners with a range of skills," Herman said. "Some of the students may have attended school in another country and had no formal education in the United States."
For some students, the end result of the program is not going to be a piece of paper they can hang on a wall.
One inmate was waiting transfer to federal prison. He said he wanted to build his skill in math learning fractions and percentages so he could learn a trade in prison.
"I want to have something I can use when I get out," he said.
Herman said she believes the program not only builds skills but helps build self-esteem among the inmates. In cell blocks where brutal fights can erupt over TV remotes, some inmates talked about getting help on their school work from their fellow prisoners.
Another man, who was incarcerated on possession of cocaine and firearms charges, said he was tired of the cycle of crime and punishment he had been in since he was a teenager. He dropped out of high school when he was in the ninth grade to run the streets and quickly became sucked into the drug culture.
"It has helped me to see myself as a different person," he said. "I hope to take a lot back to the community. I think it has opened my eyes. I thought I was always slick. I thought, I can do the time,' but now I think I can't do that.
"It takes patches out of your life. I have seen guys in here who are 50 60. This is no life. This is torture."
Once the inmates are released, they can continue to work toward a diploma or GED through Axtell Education Center or another education center where they plan to live.
The education program is relatively inexpensive at $6,000 per year, compared to other support programs at the jail, such as drug abuse treatment, which runs about $30,000 per year.
As the heavy metal door closed on the classroom, and the inmates returned to the click clack of the their keyboard and scratch and erase of their yellow pencils, Walton said he knows not all the inmates in the education program will be success stories, but he said he hopes the program will open the inmates to a bigger world.
"I think if we can get one person who wants to do something else one success story, I think that will be a success for this program and this detention center."
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