Wyoming Women’s Center graduates 100% of HiSET students

Alex Hargrave
Posted 3/10/21

Wyoming Women’s Center, a correctional facility in Lusk, posted a 100% pass rate for High School Equivalency Tests (HiSET) in 2020.

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Wyoming Women’s Center graduates 100% of HiSET students

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LUSK – Wyoming Women’s Center, a correctional facility in Lusk, posted a 100% pass rate for High School Equivalency Tests (HiSET) in 2020.

The Wyoming Department of Corrections had a 95% pass rate overall, according to a DOC press release. A high school diploma or equivalency test is required for women incarcerated at WWC to be able to take on a job, according to Hayley Speiser, correctional education programs manager, and 16 women received HiSET certification last year.

The HiSET consists of tests in reading, writing, math, science and social studies, Speiser said.

When individuals are incarcerated, the DOC checks their record to see whether they have their high school diploma or equivalency. 

“If they can’t find proof or if they say they don’t have it, it is priority number one for them to go to class,” said Sandra Toolen, education manager at WWC. 

Toolen said on average, 20% of incoming inmates did not graduate high school.

“I’d like to make it to where before they leave, 100% have it,” she said. “When the ladies start classes, I like to ask them why they left school. You always get some sad stories, and you get some who say, ‘I was bored.’”

WWC offers courses from professors at Eastern Wyoming College and the University of Wyoming, as well as vocational programs through Training, Performance and Compliance (TPC). Incarcerated individuals can currently earn a computer applications certificate through EWC. They can also enroll at colleges that offer correspondence programs, or print-based classes.

The facility also has aquaculture and wastewater treatment programs and recreational opportunities, including yoga and crocheting, taught by inmates. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Toolen said, they were working to offer cosmetology courses taught by EWC faculty.

The education hallway is fairly plain, with wooden doors against white walls, aside from a purple and gold bulletin board with photos of recent graduates from the facility’s various educational programs donned in caps and gowns in the middle. There is a computer lab, a few classrooms and a library staffed by inmates. 

Education is what WWC Warden Rick Catron considers the number one way to decrease recidivism. 

“Our job and our mission in this agency is to provide the women with the tools to successfully reenter society,” Catron said. “We’re the only profession in the world that keeps on going based on our failures. We’re trying to shut ourselves down. If we could stop inmates from coming to prison, we would be totally successful. I’d be unemployed, but we’d be successful.”

Education and job preparedness aim to make women self-sufficient, Speiser said.

“These women are very smart and they’re coming out with a great education,” she said. “They deserve that chance to better themselves and support themselves.”