SAN LUIS, AZ – A capacity crowd in the Dakota Unit visitation room applauded more than 100 inmates who graduated from GED and work-based education programs at AZDOC's Yuma facility earlier this month.

Speakers, including Arizona Rep. Amanda Aguirre, Yuma warden Jerry Sternes, and corrections educational programs manager Hal Siel, encouraged inmates to continue on the road to success.  With nearly 100 friends and family in attendance, the message of responsibility after release was particularly salient. 

"We want you to go out and get a job – we don't want you back," Siel said.

The ceremony was the largest single unit graduation held since Yuma discontinued unit-wide graduations after the inception of AZDOC director Dora Schriro's "Parallel Universe" program, which helps ease inmates back into society.

Since 2003, department-wide graduations have increased from less than 700 to more than 3,000 annually.  According to supervisor and education program veteran Bill Manginen, 71 percent of Dakota Unit inmates now have their GED or high school diploma.

Following the ceremony, attendees and graduates enjoyed an ice cream reception and special visitation privileges.

"We were floored to see so many visitors and graduates," said Manginen.  "We wanted it to be something memorable for everybody – this is what Parallel Universe is all about."