Graduating inmates at this California prison are no longer prisoners but professionals

Prison inmate Kristopher Kirschner reaches out to his mother Eileen Peterson as new graduates walk in for the graduation ceremony at California State Prison on Feb 28, in Lancaster, California. Photos: TNS

Before the graduates strode in to the strains of Pomp And Circumstance, their prison blues peeking out from under their gowns, correctional officer John Janvrin encouraged them not to rush.

“Remember guys, you worked real hard for this. Real hard,” Janvrin reminded the incarcerated men as they lined up in a back room, reread their notes, fixed their bow ties and adjusted the gold tassels bobbing from their mortarboards.