Katie Wilborn was 18 when her mother gave her methamphetamines for the first time.

A mother of one and a high school drop out, Wilborn said she quickly followed her own mother’s footsteps and became hooked to the powerful drug.

“It’s a hard situation when the person who’s supposed to be teaching you is the one showing it [the drugs] to you,” Wilborn said.

Wilborn “crashed and burned” quickly. By 19 she was in the Dallas County Jail and charged with three counts of delivering and manufacturing methamphetamine.

After serving 18 months in jail Wilborn was released, but quickly returned after continuing to use drugs and violating her probation. Wilborn spent the next three years in and out of jail.

While serving her sentence, Wilborn saw the same criminals coming in and out of the system.

“There were 60 year old women that jailers knew by their first names,” she said. “That’s not what I wanted for myself.”

Tired of living life as an addict, Wilborn enrolled in the El Centro College Jail Education Program.

“It gives you something to do with your time while you’re in there, instead of just sitting there,” Wilborn said. “It helped to further my education.”

Today Wilborn is drug free and working full time as a Desk Agent at the Best Western Hotel in Dallas. She is expecting a second child with her fiancé, Ricardo, whom she credits with helping her to stay clean.

Since 1973, El Centro College, part of the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD), has partnered with the Dallas County Sherriff’s Department, providing college courses to inmates serving time in Dallas County Jail, while reducing recidivism and encouraging education.

The goal is to expose “inmates to something they’ve not had, something that might make a difference in their life,” said Yolanda Lara, the director of inmate programs at the jail.

The program, which is paid for by money collected through the inmates commissary fund, does not cost taxpayers.

The Jail Education program offers 24 courses in five-week, fast track sessions, with classes ranging from computer skills courses, to art and human development.

Each class meets for three hours per day and inmates can take up to three courses in a five-week session.

“They stay busy all day long,” Lara said.

The program is only available for minimum offenders, which include crimes such as shoplifting, vandalism, reckless driving, and drug possession. Inmates being held for murder, sexual assault, rape or any violent offense are prohibited.

Lara estimates that 90 percent of the inmates involved in the program are incarcerated for drug related charges.

Any non-violent offender can sign up for the program; however, inmates must fill out a kite, or request form, while in custody, and submit it to Inmate Programs. The department will then analyze the request and determine if the applicant is a candidate.

Once enrolled in the program, the inmate will move out of the general population and into nicer, dorm-like rooms, called pods.

“We group all education students together because they are better behaved,” Lara said. “They have the drive to want to do better.”

The pods, which each contain 64 bunks, also create a supportive environment where education student’s can help each other with homework while tutoring one another.

The curriculum is the same one taught at all Dallas County Community Colleges (DCCCD) and inmates must follow strict rules in order to remain in the program. If students miss more than two classes they are permanently removed.

When students leave jail, they will be registered with DCCCD and will have started a certificate program, which they can continue at any of the seven campuses throughout Dallas County.

Inmates are “usually very grateful to be able to have the opportunity to take the courses,” said Cynthia Paschall, who teaches computer courses covering Microsoft Office software with the jail education program. “It really does help boost their moral.”

Many students learn basic computer skills, including programs such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Paschall recognizes that there are a “wide variety of students and skill levels,” and as a result her teaching approach changes with each class.

Currently there are 32 teachers from El Centro College that teach in the program. Paschall has been teaching at the jail for six years, and while it is not a traditional classroom setting, she enjoys instructing students who want to be in the classroom and truly appreciate the education.

“They seem to be so much more thankful that they have the courses, that they have the opportunity to get the education,” Paschall said. “That is very beneficial to me. I feel like I’m more appreciated.”

One of the biggest challenges for Paschall is teaching students whose brains have been ravaged by drugs.

“I have a hard time with students retaining information due to heavy drug use,” Paschall said. “I have to work one on one with those students and find different ways to keep reiterating the same information until it actually sticks.”

While obtaining college credit hours is important for the inmates, many walk away with more than just an education.

“I knew I was smart enough and capable enough, but I just didn’t believe in myself,” Wilborn said. “The professors really believed in me. It made me believe more in myself.”

Students are not the only ones achieving something from the program. The program has led to a reduction is recidivism rates, which benefits Dallas County and the community as a whole.

“They’re going to be back out in our community,” Lara said. “Addicts are not going to get the time in prison like your violent offenders are going to.”

Upon release, the hope is that inmates will continue their education, instead of a life in crime.

Wilborn did exactly that. Drug free for three years, Wilborn enrolled at El Centro College and has continued her education. Using the computer skills learned in jail, Wilborn is able to remain successfully employed at the Best Western Hotel, and credits the program with giving her the necessary fundamentals to be employable.

“I use Microsoft word at my job, I use Excel,” she said. “I use all of the programs they taught me in there.”

As Wilborn continues “to take it one step at a time,” her mother now sits in Dallas County Jail, charged with the same offenses that she herself faced not too long ago.

“The best I can do is just hope and pray that she’s able to get it, and change her life while she still has time,” Wilborn said.