10 HS Students Graduate While In County Custody

VALHALLA, NY — Ten students who were being held in custody by the Westchester County Department of Correction received their high school diplomas Friday at a commencement ceremony held on site. After an invocation, there were opening remarks by Dr. Michelle Darby, principal of the jail’s Sprain Brook Academy.

Darby showcased the accomplishments of each of the ten graduates, noting that the Southern Westchester BOCES educational team and the Department of Correction’s staff form close bonds with the young men and women.

She singled out one of them — Dashawn H, 18, of Mount Vernon — who recently passed five Regents examinations in the span of a single week.

For many years, the county has partnered with BOCES to ensure that young offenders as well as adult learners have the opportunity to pursue a high school diploma while in jail. Inmates under 19 years old are considered a "special needs" population by county jail officials based upon their cognitive, social and developmental needs.

As a result, they receive a wide array of educational, therapeutic and recovery-related programs. Several of this year’s graduates have already received acceptance letters to Manhattan College and are taking college-level courses at the jail and at no cost to taxpayers.

Correction Commissioner Joseph K. Spano told the graduates at the ceremony that Westchester County commited a tremendous amount of resources to support them in their paths forward.

"When you came here, you could have simply waited out your time but instead availed yourselves of these many opportunities offered to you," he said. "Do not get complacent with what you have accomplished today; it is not the last but instead the first of many steps along your journey.”

In closing the ceremony, First Deputy Commissioner Louis A. Molina discussed the holistic approach that Westchester County takes toward providing services to those in its care.

"Through a coordinated effort, we are breaking the cycle of incarceration and continuing to change lives,” he said.

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