Inmate becomes youngest to earn GED at Dougherty jail

ALBANY — At 18 years old, Jacob Ross Wooley became the youngest inmate at the Dougherty County Jail to earn his GED. With family and jail staffers sitting behind him Wednesday, Wooley received a certificate marking his accomplishment.

Wooley is also the 39th inmate to graduate from the jail’s GED program. The program is a partnership between the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office and Albany Technical College.

Albany Tech Instructor James Parker said, “Jacob shows me what an individual can do with a sober mind. Jacob has a lot of potential.”

Dougherty County Sheriff Kevin Sproul said he’d had a conversation with Wooley a few months ago during which the young inmate “spoke very highly of his mother” and how she raised him with a Christian upbringing. Sproul said Wooley told him that he started getting referrals in the seventh grade and was sent back and forth to an alternative school “until he quit school at 16.”

“We never know what goes on in a young man’s or a young woman’s mind (or) the pressure they deal with today and why they do the things they do,” Sproul said. “We can’t control what they do outside of this land, outside of these fences, but we can control what they can do here. (Wooley) took advantage of this program. Cpl. (Vivian) Hunt said she’s going to get him signed up for a substance abuse program next. So he’s got a lot of positive things working for him. … At least we’re trying to get him to the point — while he’s here — so when he does get out, he’ll never return.”

“I just want to thank y’all for sticking by my side,” Wooley said as he held his GED certificate. “Thank you, Mr. Parker and Ms. Hunt for making it possible for me to do something good while I’m in here.”

At the end of the presentation ceremony, Jail Director John Ostrander that the certificate gives Wooley “a good start.”

“There’s more that you can do, more education you can get,” Ostrander said. “The more education you get, the better job you can qualify for, the more income you can make and everything just gets better from here. We’re proud of the step you’ve taken, and we just want to encourage you to do the most that you can and do the best that you can.”

Fourteen inmates are currently enrolled in the jail’s GED program.

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