Female Inmates Celebrate Graduation

Female Inmates Celebrate Graduation

A member of the first graduating class hugs a CIU Prison Initiative volunteer before commencement.

The first 12 female inmates enrolled in Columbia International University’s Prison Initiative are now being disbursed among South Carolina’s female inmate population to minister as chaplain’s assistants. With tears of joy, the cohort of women received Associate of Arts degrees from CIU on Aug. 8 during commencement ceremonies held at the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution directly across the Broad River from CIU’s main campus.    

The Prison Initiative began in 2007 in the South Carolina Department of Correction’s male institutions. Since the program began, 63 inmate/students have graduated and have been assigned to 22 male institutions across the state.

The first’s women’s graduation caught the attention of the South Carolina news media. Check out this report on WLTX TV in Columbia:

https://www.wltx.com/story/news/local/2014/08/08/first-woman-inmates-graduate/13805147/.

For more on the CIU Prison Initiative visit:http://www.ciu.edu/prison-initiative