ODOC Adult Basic Education receives CareerTech's 2019 Outstanding Overall Achievement Award

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Jeana Ely, Oklahoma Department of Corrections correctional school superintendent, poses for a photo with, at left, Clint Castleberry, acting director of Populations, Programs and Strategic Planning, and Nate Brown, at right, ODOC Programs Director, on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, at the Oklahoma Adult Basic Education State Conference at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Norman.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ Adult Basic Education program has received CareerTech’s Outstanding Overall Achievement award.

The agency received the award Thursday during the annual Oklahoma ABE State Conference at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Norman. ODOC received the award out of the 119 ABE sites in Oklahoma.

Accepting the award for ODOC was Jeana Ely, correctional school superintendent.

The ODOC Education Program serves inmates at 24 facilities in the state, and helped 5,736 student inmates in 2019.

Over 58 percent of students improved overall skills after assistance from the program as shown in reports to the US. Department of Education. That is well above the state’s target of 42 percent for measurable skill gains.

Additionally, 949 inmates received their high-school equivalency in 2019.

Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Educations funding helps support the ABE program at ODOC and other sites through federal ABE grant and state funding.

Through the program, inmates can earn an education while they’re incarcerated to ease their transition to life on the outside once they release, helping them avoid returning to prison.