Gaylla Finnell, Chief Jamie Clayton, and Sgt. Robert Wilson receive formal recognition from IVC Board
Gaylla Finnell, Chief Jamie Clayton and Sergeant Robert Wilson were officially recognized Oct. 20 by the IVC Board of Trustees at its regularly scheduled board meeting. They were formally recognized for having provided exemplary service in their respective roles with the Imperial County Sheriff ’s Office Educational Services Department and the development of the Inside/Out College Program.
The Inside/Out College Program has been offered by Imperial Valley College to incarcerated persons and outside persons at the County of Imperial Day Reporting Center. The program was created in a Memorandum of Understanding between Imperial Valley College, the Imperial County Sheriff 's Office, and the Imperial County Probation Department. Finnell, Clayton and Wilson were in charge of the development and coordination of the Inside/Out College Program from its inception in 2014 through 2019.
The Inside/Out College Program they started has continued to serve the community. This historic collaboration marked the establishment of the nation’s first “inside/out” model of postsecondary education between a county jail and a community college.
A recidivism study of the 60 incarcerated students who attended the Inside/Out College Program from Fall 2014 through Spring 2018 found that only 7.4 percent of the incarcerated students were reconvicted, a recidivism rate substantially lower than the 54.9 percent recidivism rate of California individuals reconvicted post-release after serving their time in county jail rather than state prison. The Inside/Out College Program has celebrated more than 11 semesters of classes.
Trustee Karla Sigmond, who serves as Clerk of the Board, concluded with a formal resolution that “the Inside/Out College Program as having a significant impact in reducing recidivism in the County of Imperial and extends its sincere and heartfelt gratitude to Gaylla Finnell, Chief Jamie Clayton and Sgt. Robert Wilson for their dedication to the program.”