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A recent high school graduate, Joshua F. Miranda of Accokeek has hopes of going to college and getting a job where he can help people.

"I accomplished a goal that I wanted to accomplish," Miranda said. "It just feels really good to get my degree."

First, Miranda, 22, expects to serve a 10-year sentence for a robbery he allegedly committed last year. His trial date is scheduled for Aug. 4, according to court records.

Miranda is one of eight students in the Prince George's County Department of Corrections general equivalency diploma, or GED, program who received a diploma Monday, though two of the recipients were no longer at the jail. County officials said the corrections center's GED program has an average graduation rate of 65 percent, higher than similar programs around the state which average 50 percent. Fourteen inmates took the test during this session.

So far this year, 53 percent — or 25 out of 47 inmates — have passed the GED test. The test is offered six times per year, and the jail hosts a graduation ceremony after each test for the students who passed. Recently, the jail began allowing graduates to wear traditional caps and gowns over their orange jail uniforms and inviting family and friends to make the ceremony feel more like a high school graduation.

Miranda was the class salutatorian, graduating with the second highest GED test score in the group. He hopes to use his degree to "get a nice job" in the future.

"It makes me feel good when I help people," Miranda said.

Mary Lou McDonough, interim director of the county jail, noted in her speech to graduates that the public often does not see the positive programs happening in the jail.

The jail has been under heavy criticism recently for the death of an inmate death who had been charged with killing a police officer in June 2008. The family of the inmate, 19-year-old Ronnie White, is suing the county alleging guards killed him in his cell. The guards have denied the claims, and no criminal charges have been filed.

Also, the jail's former director, Alfred J. McMurray Sr., was fired last year after four handguns went missing from a locked armory in the facility.

"We take a lot of knocks," McDonough said. "It's only when you're in the facility you realize all the good things that are happening in this facility."

Inmates pursuing an educational program live in the Education Unit, a separate unit of about 40 to 44 inmates. A typical unit in the jail would have between 96 and 150 inmates, said W. Stephan Simmons, division chief of program services for the county jail.

Jail officials attribute the students' success to the academic environment the inmates create as well as the staff of teachers and tutors who work with them.

The average inmate in the GED program has a sixth-grade reading level and a fourth-grade math level. They must improve to a ninth-grade reading level as they take their classes in order to take the GED test, Simmons said.

Leonardo N. Baty, 25, of Washington, D.C., earned the highest score of the group Monday and was named the class's valedictorian. As he accepted his diploma, he encouraged his fellow inmates to pursue their academic goals.

"Every one of you guys in this unit, please keep trying. Don't give up on yourself," he said.

Baty declined to discuss the pending charges against him, but according to police and court records, he is charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 19-year-old Capitol Heights man in August.

He did discuss his education efforts while in jail.

"It's a great accomplishment. I did have faith in getting a diploma. I never thought I would be valedictorian of my class," Baty said after the ceremony.

Baty, who hopes to one day have his own business, said it had been nine years since he was last in a school environment, but that it was a natural fit.

"It just came to me like it never went away," Baty said.

E-mail Megan King at mking@gazette.net.