GALLIPOLIS — Buckeye Hills Career Center has partnered with the Gallia County Sheriff’s Office to offer Gallia County Jail inmates an opportunity to participate in the Adult Basic Education Literacy (ABEL) program.

ABEL is funded through the Ohio Department of Education to prepare individuals for the GED as well as teaching basic literacy, mathematics, computer and learning skills. College prep and transitional instruction is also available for those who have already completed high school or obtained their GED.

Lilly Roush, ABEL director at BHCC, said the career center applied for a correctional grant as part of its ABEL grant. Initially, statistics indicated that there was no need for such a program, but Sheriff Joe Browning insisted that there definitely was a need.

BHCC applied for the competitive grant and ended up being awarded $18,000 in funding for this program, which Roush said received a lot of support from local educators, judges and attorneys. She added that the grant money will be utilized to pay for a teacher, an aide and other materials necessary for education instruction.

“We’re just getting started with it,” Roush said of the new program. “It appears to be very successful and I think it will continue to be so.”

She added that there is a definite need for the program since approximately 60 percent of inmates are illiterate.

Browning said that BHCC has worked with inmates at the county jail in the past, however lessons were always taught through cell bars, making instruction not only difficult, but somewhat intimidating for all involved.

When the EMS offices were moved from the basement of the courthouse to the new EMS station, Browning utilized the extra space to provide a monitored classroom setting for ABEL instruction.

Dave Redecker, a Gallia County Auxiliary Deputy and a former state trooper, will be the instructor for the classes along with Darin McFarland, his teaching aide. Redecker teaches Ohio Peace Officer Training classes at BHCC and also teaches at Hocking College. They teach three to four hour classes at the jail two days a week, instructing females in the morning and males in the afternoon as the inmates must be kept separate.

“We’re offering skills to further assist (inmates) once they’re done serving their terms,” Redecker said. “ABEL as a program functions to aid people wishing to upgrade their skills and people wanting to earn GED diplomas.”

“It really gives inmates a chance to help themselves,” Browning said of the program. “It’s an opportunity for them to try and work themselves out of whatever got them in here in the first place.”

“Sheriff Browning has made lots of improvements to this place,” a female inmate said of the jail. “Take it from a frequent flyer,” she laughed, though she said she has no plans to return once released.

“We really do appreciate Sheriff Browning giving us this opportunity,” she added.