In 2024, Sinclair is serving more than 2,600 incarcerated individuals with degree and certificate programs in 16 ODRC facilities, according to the college.
ODRC and Sinclair have promoted the program as a way for incarcerated individuals to improve during their time in prison and enhance their lives when they leave.
Danielle Carr, from Middletown, received a business associate’s degree and was a speaker for the ceremony.
“We’re judged because of where we are and the reasons why we’re here,” Carr told her audience, including her fellow Sinclair graduates, family members and Sinclair Community College staff.
Carr said it was a challenge to get through her degree. As someone who dropped out as a sophomore in high school, she had to first complete her high school degree. But working on her education was a step in confidence, she said.
“I was on my way to find myself,” she said.
She also lost her mom and her grandma in December 2023, during the last week of the fall semester. She said her teachers supported her and were able to help her.
Carr said she’s now interested in continuing her education and getting a degree as a teacher.
“Teachers changed my life, so I want to be able to give back,” Carr said.
Carr was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2020 for having a weapon and other counts related to drug trafficking.
January Newport, program coordinator with the Montgomery County Office of Reentry and a formerly incarcerated individual, spoke during the ceremony, encouraging the women in the audience to continue to set goals for themselves.
“Education is more than just knowledge,” Newport said. “It’s empowerment.”
Newport, who was sentenced for crimes related to substance abuse and untreated mental health issues, was last incarcerated at DCI in 2015. She noted her time in prison was difficult, describing attending her mother’s funeral virtually in the infirmary, sobbing inconsolably while a guard stood silently nearby.
And the people completing coursework are doing so handwritten on paper, she noted, not on computers as many college students do now.
Newport said she was able to complete a certificate while in prison but got her associate and bachelor’s degrees post-release. She is now working through her master’s degree.
“The world outside might not always recognize you, but you know your worth,” Newport told her audience.
Earlier this year, Newport spoke to the Dayton Daily News about the difficulties many people like her face after leaving prison. Newport’s office helps to reduce and remove barriers to reentry and reduce recidivism rates, including building relationships with landlords, employers and other community partners.
The Office of Reentry’s signature program, the Reentry Career Alliance Academy, has served more than 900 clients since its inception in 2015.
The success rate of people who have graduated the program is 91%, meaning the recidivism rate is 9%, officials said.
In her work now, Newport said she uses the life experience she’s gained to help others coming out of the system.
“It makes my life make sense,” Newport said. “There was a lot of senseless stuff.”
Cornelius Frolik contributed to this story.
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