Sheriff’s office offers GED testing in jail to inmates

Inmates at the Pueblo County Jail will have a chance to get their GED this year at the jail.

Last year, inmates couldn’t receive their GED at the jail because the office lacked funding for it and the Colorado Department of Education decided to switch to electronic testing only.

The sheriff’s office would have to send released inmates to Pueblo Community College to complete the testing process but it wasn’t getting the results it was hoping.

The program is a partnership between PCC and the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office used money from the inmate profit fund to buy computers, set up a testing center and has the software approved by the Colorado Department of Education for GED testing.

Bureau Chief Darlene Alcala said the program is important because it keeps people from going back to jail.

“There is research that shows us that 70 percent of incarcerated individuals are incarcerated because they lack education,” she said.

Since the program was started in 2006, the jail has produced 342 graduates.