Inmates earn GEDs, plumbing certificates

Franklin Correctional Institution held graduation ceremonies on Jan. 8 for 17 inmates who successfully completed the GED program and received their high school diplomas.

Five of the seventeen graduates come from Bay City Work Camp in Apalachicola, which is a satellite facility of Franklin Correctional Institution (FCI). The program is overseen by the prison’s education department, teacher Melonie Inzetta and teacher’s aide Joyce Isetts. 

In addition 16 inmates recently completed the Vocational Plumbing Program at Franklin CI and received their certificates. This course, which teaches basic principles such as; plumbing math, water distribution, blueprints, basic rigging, etc., takes approximately 20 weeks to complete during which the inmates receive 600 hours of core curricular in Level 1 and Level 2 plumbing.  The plumbing program is supervised by Dewey Smith.

Pastor Julie Stephens, of Carrabelle United Methodist Church, was the keynote speaker for the ceremony.  Also present for the event was Franklin County School Superintendent Nina Marks, who assisted Inzetta in handing out diplomas, and Region 1 Educational Program Administrator Gwen Brock.

During the last two years, 129 inmates received their high school diplomas, and 156 inmates completed the Vocational Plumbing Program at FCI and received their plumbing certificates. 

These programs are part of the Florida Department of Corrections’ ongoing re-entry initiative to reduce inmate recidivism rates.  Statistics have shown that inmates who receive their GED while in prison are 7.9 percent less likely to return to prison and inmates who receive a vocational certificate, like the plumbing certificate offered at Franklin CI, are 14 percent less likely to return to prison. 

“The administration and staff at Franklin CI are committed to the re-entry initiative as we know it helps make our communities safer,” said Warden Duffie Harrison,

For more information about the programs at FCI or to visit a program, please contact the Office of Public Affairs at (850) 488-0420.