By Kaitlin Durbin
Cleveland.com
CLEVELAND — For years, the only color he’d worn was orange — a Cuyahoga County jail uniform as he awaited trial on a string of serious charges, including murder. But for a short time this week, he got to slip on something different: a shiny blue cap and gown celebrating his graduation from the jail’s GED program.
The 31-year-old had recently been convicted and faces sentencing later this month, likely to a long prison term. But before that, he said it was important to give his 8-year-old daughter a reason to be proud of him.
“I wanted to teach her to never give up,” he told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. “And I just wanted to feel like I’ve accomplished something in life.”
He spoke to cleveland.com on the condition of anonymity.
The man was one of two graduates recognized in a ceremony on Thursday, culminating months of dedication to attending classes, studying and retaking tests to finish their high school equivalency. Family members were allowed to watch through a video livestream.
The jail suspended the GED program during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Sheriff Harold Pretel brought it back in 2023, stressing the importance of education in bettering the lives of individuals in the jail and hopefully deterring them from returning. Since then, the program has reached more than 400 inmates, though most never finished because they were released, transferred or dropped out.
Still, about 20 people have graduated since 2023, including the two honored Thursday. Theirs was the first graduation ceremony since the pandemic.
More are close behind. Seven inmates are awaiting their final tests, with dozens of others working their way through the 12-week program now, Warden Jennifer Frame said. More than 50 others are waiting for their chance to start — a sign of growing demand.
“We have to celebrate good things in the jail, not always the bad,” Frame said.
Teaching through barriers
The classes are run by Aspire Cleveland, a free adult education service through the Cuyahoga County Public Library. If inmates leave before completing their studies, they have the option to continue classes in the community. But Jaime Harris, who has overseen the program for two decades, said most don’t — often because they’re juggling new housing requirements, probation check-ins and the urgent task of finding a job.
That makes completing the course while inside the jail all the more important, she said — but also more difficult.
“Make no mistake, earning a GED inside these walls is no small feat,” Harris told the graduates during the ceremony, citing constant interruptions, from lockdowns and background noise to the stress of court dates and separation from family.
“I want you to hear me clear: you are capable, you are teachable; you are redeemable,” she said. “This graduation is proof.”
The second graduate, a 30-year-old woman, had been dropped from the program last year for behavior issues but petitioned to return this year. She, too, likely faces a long sentence on a murder conviction but told cleveland.com she wanted to leave knowing she had finally finished high school.
Her father, who never earned a diploma himself, watched her graduation through a livestream.
“It meant a lot to me,” she said. “He didn’t graduate.”
Beyond the ceremony
County officials celebrated the ceremony as the start of a new life for the graduates, regardless of their sentences. County Councilwoman Meredith Turner called for graduates not to let their past decisions shrink the vision they have for their lives.
Executive Chris Ronayne shook hands with the graduates and future graduates and urged them to start viewing themselves as part of the larger community, using their new education to prepare for the day they return to it.
“Keep going, guys; keep going,” he encouraged. “You don’t have to stop at your GED. Think about that next move up — an associate’s degree, possibly a college degree, and just being a part of the workforce when you return.”
He and Pretel pointed to the GED program as an example of how the county hopes to expand opportunities in the jail in the future, especially in the $900 million new facility that’s being planned. But Pretel has said he’s not waiting until then.
He’s strengthening programs they already have and starting to pilot new ones in hopes that once the new facility opens, “we can hit the ground running.” Cleveland.com will be highlighting some of those programs in stories examining what it means to live and rehabilitate inside the county jail.
Pretel emphasized that 92% of people in the jail will eventually return to the community. For him, education is a key part of ensuring they “leave here better than they came.”
“You achieved something that cannot be taken from you,” he told the graduates. “There are thousands, if not millions, of people in this country who have not achieved this, and you achieved it despite the challenges. That says a lot; it says a lot for your character, it says a lot for your commitment, and it says a lot for your vision.”
Chief Deputy of Corrections Nestor Rivera said he understands the significance of Thursday’s milestone on a personal level. He dropped out of high school himself before eventually earning his GED, an accomplishment he said gave him the confidence to move forward.
“In my experience, any ray of light, anything that can make someone feel a little better about themselves moving forward is positive,” Rivera said. “You never know — it just influences you and it’s positive energy pushing you forward.”
He hoped it might have the same impact on the graduates, noting their beaming smiles during the ceremony.
After receiving his certificate, the male graduate kept stealing glances at his certificate and checking the TV screen to make sure his family could see. He told cleveland.com that he plans to explore a career in the trades one day — driving trucks, laying bricks or becoming an electrician.
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