There was no cap and gown and no tassel to flip, but there was still pomp and circumstance when 36-year-old Eric Horch, dressed in a blue jail jumpsuit, received his high school diploma at the Douglas County Jail.

“To be honest with you, I never thought I’d do it — never,” Horch said Friday, proudly holding the black leather case containing his new Lawrence High School diploma.

Horch was the first inmate at the Douglas County Jail to graduate from the high school diploma completion program begun in late September.

“I looked forward to coming to class every day,” Horch said. “Twenty years ago you couldn’t have gotten me to do it.”

The program is called the “Learning Lab.” Inmates have access to seven computers and a full-time teacher employed by the South Central Kansas Education Service Center, based in Clearwater. Horch’s diploma, which he received Tuesday, is from Lawrence High School. But the program is funded by the state and managed by the service center in Clearwater.

In and out of jail

In Learning Lab, inmates can complete courses in all subjects taught in grades 9 through 12. The teacher works with whatever high school the inmate last attended to obtain transcripts and find out what courses are needed to graduate.

In Horch’s case, he was expelled from his Arkansas high school halfway through his senior year. He needed only five more credits to receive a diploma.

“I gave up on it. Truly, I gave up on it. This is a major achievement for me,” Horch said. “Better than to lay in here and not do anything other than read and watch movies. I can better my situation for when I get released.”

Kelly Moomau, teacher at the Douglas County Jail Learning

Horch has been in and out of jail since he was convicted of an attempted robbery at a Burger King in March 2000. He was sentenced to 16 months probation but failed to abide by the conditions nearly a half dozen times. Each violation landed him right back in jail.

‘One last shot’

“You’re getting one last shot at it,” Judge Robert Fairchild told Horch during a recent court hearing. “You’ve got until September to keep your nose clean.”

The judge ordered Horch, who is to leave jail Monday, to complete 10 days at a secure detox facility in Topeka. Then he will be released to a halfway house.

Mike Caron, the jail’s program director, said he had seen a change in Horch’s attitude since the inmate got involved in the diploma completion program.

“He’s clearly on cloud nine right now. He’s so proud of himself,” Caron said. “Every minute we would allow him to be, he was on that computer working.”

6News video: Inmate gets diploma from Lawrence High

And other inmates are right behind him. Two more are just steps away from receiving high school diplomas, Caron said. Another 23, or about a quarter of the jail’s inmates, are participating in the program.

“It gives them a way to plan out their futures and to think about something down the line that’s going to help them build the foundations they need to stay out of here,” Caron said.

A real diploma

Kelly Moomau is the Learning Lab teacher. She works in the small classroom alongside the inmates, and she says they take the work seriously.

“That’s the key right there,” Moomau said. “They’re back now and they want to do it. They have a whole lot more desire to do it now than they ever did before.”

She emphasized that the program was much different than General Educational Development (GED) courses offered in many jails across the state. Instead of just passing a test, inmates actually must complete the high school coursework — book reports and all. The only difference from coursework done by other high school students is that the inmates work on computers at their own pace and do their homework in their jail cells.

“A GED doesn’t really show that you finished anything,” Moomau said, “but to actually have a high school diploma shows that you took the initiative to finish up something that you started, and I think it builds a lot of confidence in them, letting them know that they can do it.”

And Horch is confident that when he leaves the jail Monday armed with his new high school diploma, he won’t be back. He already is enrolled in welding classes for the spring semester at Kaw Area Technical School in Topeka.

“I’m going to try to get my life back together,” Horch said. “I want to get back around my kids with my head straight this time, conduct life like I need to, be a good parent, be a responsible person, and make my mom happy — make me happy.”