CONNELL, Wash. (AP) — Seven prisoners at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center at Connell have earned associate college degrees since classes started two years ago. Another five will graduate in June.
And about 70 more could earn AA degrees in the next year, if funding is continued.
The Tri-City Herald reports the program will end in September unless prison officials find the $243,000 a year to keep it going.
Supporters say education is the best way to keep prisoners from re-offending. The first person to graduate and be released from Coyote Ridge is an arsonist who is now attending Central Washington University and hoping to go into investment banking.
