Two Dougherty County Jail inmates receive their GEDs

ALBANY — An emotional scene unfolded at the Dougherty County Jail on Thursday as James Wood and Demetris Tolson received their General Equivalency Diplomas.

Wood and Tolson’s families were present as Sheriff Kevin Sproul and James Parker of Albany Technical College presented Wood and Tolson’s certificates.

Through joint efforts, the jail and Albany Tech offer adult education to inmates while the inmates are incarcerated, and if they are released before completing their GED education, Albany Tech provides the rest of the education required to finish at the college.

Wood and Tolson’s instructor at the Dougherty County Jail, Cpl. Vivian Hunt, had kind words to say about the men’s dedication to their education.

“I always want to find ways to motivate my students, but they (Wood and Tolson) motivated each other, they challenged each other all the time,” Hunt said. “The really wanted it, and they got it.”

Hunt said that for an inmate to enter her GED program, they must have a clean disciplinary record during their time at the jail. She said she has a “zero tolerance for cutting up,” and she said that by filtering out the troublemakers, she can teach the students who really want to learn.

“We hope that the GEDs will help change people’s lives,” Parker, an adult educator from Albany Tech, said in his remarks.

Now that Wood and Tolson have received their education, they said that they are looking forward to getting on track once they are released. James Wood said that he wants to join a union. When asked if Wood had any family in the union already, he laughed and said no and that the idea was a “wild hair.”

Susan Johnson, James Wood’s mother, was proud of her son’s accomplishment.

“Now he has something I don’t even have,” she said with tears in her eyes.

Tolson said that he wants to either join the Army when he is released or study to become an emergency medical technician. Tolson said while he bounced his daughter in his arms that he was motivated to get his GED for his family.

The pride for Wood and Tolson extended from beyond their families to the jail officials who also witnessed the certificate presentation.

“It’s a proud moment for us, and we don’t take this lightly.” Sproul said, pointing to all of the officials present.

Officials said the success of the GED program has caused the jail to receive donations and support from all over the globe from as far as from Okinawa, Japan. The jail’s GED program provides the reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies education to inmates so that they can pass the equivalence tests for the GED.

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