Earning Master’s Degrees at MTC’s Taft Correctional Institution
Taft Correctional Institution, in Taft, CA, recently held a GED graduation; other degrees and certifications were presented as well. Some graduates shared their thoughts.
Artak Ovsepian: When I arrived here, I had only [a] 9th grade education. With unconditional support from the educational department, I was able to obtain my GED. Now, I am two subjects away from completing my bachelor’s of science in business administration. I just finished getting my paralegal certificate and moving on to get my advanced paralegal in immigration law, after I completed getting my advanced paralegal in real estate law.
Samuel Robles-Grangel: They give you the opportunity. I think it’s good for the future to be able to get better jobs on the outside. It’s good because you show your family that you’re changing. I want to thank the instructors for providing us the program, the books, all the materials that they provide us to make this possible.
Paul Walsh: The opportunities that I was given through the education department to pursue a correspondence post-graduate degree has allowed me to focus my time while being here and taking a situation that wasn’t the best and making the best out of it. I interact with different people in the education department who help proctor my exams. I was able to graduate with an honors degree and a master’s [degree] in business administration, marketing. It took me about 15 months to do it. The environment that you’re allowed to work in is helpful, and the education department assisted me all the way through it.
Artak Ovsepian: I’d like to thank the education department for giving us an opportunity to further our education; to have an opportunity to have goals that we can accomplish. Here at Taft Correctional Institution, we’re fortunate enough to have a great educational department who supports us in every way we need.
Samuel Robles-Grangel: I thank the instructors for teaching us every day and for their effort they give to get us to study. They make sure that we’re always learning things like math, science, language arts. The program is very complete. I’d also like to thank the prison management for allowing this program to run in the prison.
About Taft Correctional Institution
Taft Correctional Institution is accredited by the American Correctional Association—
achieving over 99% compliance for both mandatory and non-mandatory standards in
its most recent audit. Other accreditations and certifications include the Correctional
Education Association, The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations, and the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
