GOV. MARK SANFORD wants to require all the state’s prisoners to get a GED if they don’t have one.

Corrections chief Jon Ozmint said he would like to comply with the governor’s wishes, but it is a tough task. The state can’t force adult inmates to get GEDs if they don’t want to. “I wish we could make inmates want to do it,” Mr. Ozmint said.

Inmates 18 and under must go to school, and there is a Corrections-run school district for inmates 21 and younger that makes sure that happens. But older prisoners get to choose. “Even trying to make an 18-year-old or 19-year-old go to school is a problem if he doesn’t want to go,” Mr. Ozmint said.

Another barrier to trying to get every inmate to obtain a GED — or acquire a skill — is that it costs money, and the Legislature has been cutting the Corrections budget the past few years.

Gov. Sanford had advocated adding $2.5 million for prison education programs this fiscal year, which began July 1, but the initiative didn’t get into the budget.

Mr. Ozmint said the governor still wants to see as many inmates as possible get their GEDs. Mr. Ozmint said he told the governor an expanded education program would increase the projected deficit the prison system will run this year. “The governor felt so strongly about it he said do it anyway,” Mr. Ozmint said.

So, Mr. Ozmint is moving ahead, despite having to go the back-door route for funds. The Legislature needs to fund this agency so it can carry out its mission, part of which ought to be preparing inmates for their return to society. Corrections has continued to take direct budget cuts over the past few years, only to run deficits at year’s end.

With the funding question sort of answered, Corrections officials have begun addressing the question of how to get inmates to participate when the state really can’t force them to do so.

An added challenge is making sure teachers are available so those who want to get their GEDs have the opportunity. Up until last year, the agency had a dedicated school district that oversaw education of adult inmates. That district was dissolved, while the district for those under 21 remains.

Corrections has partnered with local public school districts in counties where prisons are located so the GED program can continue. The school districts send teachers in to work with inmates on a part-time basis. There are some prisons where more inmates are being taught and more classes are being offered than before the education budget was slashed last year. But there are some prisons where there is not as much access as there needs to be, which is something officials are trying to address.

Mr. Ozmint said that while the agency can’t force anyone to get a GED, it can be very persuasive if it uses its system of privileges and incentives effectively. That system includes everything from earning education and work credits to having the privilege to visit the canteen.

He said the department tests all inmates who come into the prison system. More than half of those who come in don’t have their GEDs and read at about an eight-grade level. Those who score well and are close to getting their GED are automatic candidates.

“If they’re close, we’re going to use our system of privileges” to get them to get a GED. “We’ve made it not voluntary for a fairly significant number,” he said.

“We’re making them do it” before they can do anything else. “If we have to, before they visit mama, if we think they are capable of passing the GED, we’re going to make them do it.”

Mr. Ozmint said encouraging inmates to get their GED isn’t just a hollow exercise. The accomplishment means a lot to inmates “who hadn’t achieved anything” in their lives, he said.

“There’s some argument now that a GED doesn’t mean what it used to mean,” Mr. Ozmint said. But when inmates receive their GEDs, a sense of pride comes over them, he said. “You can see it in their eyes.”

Although the agency has increased the number of GEDs earned over the past year, Mr. Ozmint knows his agency won’t ever get to the point where everyone will get their GED. “There are guys who aren’t ever going to pass the GED, but you can teach them some skills,” he said.

So, the agency is working toward offering more vocational training. Corrections intends to hire part-time teachers from school districts and other areas to come in and train inmates as brick masons, carpenters, plumbers and electricians.

A lot of positive things can come from allowing inmates to acquire skills and learn more about what it means to go to school or work regularly, Mr. Ozmint said. Some will learn to show up for class or work for the first time in their lives, he said. “They didn’t show up for school when they were getting in and out of trouble with the law,” he said.

The hope is that inmates armed with a GED or a new skill, and a sense of achievement, will rely on those newly acquired attributes to make a living when they’re released, rather than return to lawbreaking.

If it helps even a handful stay out of prison and become productive citizens, it will be worth it.

Reach Mr. Bolton at (803) 771-8631 or wbolton@thestate.com.