'You have a choice': 11 Central New Mexico Correctional inmates receive diplomas

LOS LUNAS — Inside the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility gym Thursday morning, inmates set up chairs and put up posters on walls.

Some posters had words or acronyms like “Academic,” “GED,” “College Degree” and “Reentry” on them. The bottom of the posters featured expressions: “Changing Lives” and “New Beginnings.”

On the side, next to the row of chairs, was a table with two white cakes with “Congratulations Graduates” put on them.

Thursday was graduation for 11 inmates who are looking to make better choices and achieve their dreams.

“It could be the steppingstone to a better life,” said Angel Garcia, who works for Albuquerque Community Safety department’s Violence Intervention Program,

‘We’ve not given up’

At about 10 a.m., “Pomp & Circumstance” started playing when Robert Madrid, Central New Mexico Correctional Facility education supervisor, told everyone to rise.

The graduates walked down the gym floor wearing black graduation caps and gowns, which covered their orange jumpsuits.

Thursday was a great day, student speaker Jason Cervantes-Ponce told the crowd, because “today is the day we get to show the system and our loved ones that we’ve not given up ... that our past does not define who we are.”

Of the 11 inmates to receive a diploma, nine, including Cervantes-Ponce and Joshua Salazar, got high school equivalency diplomas. Two others received associate degrees.

“I think it’s a very important step in becoming a functional person in society,” Salazar told the Journal before the ceremony.

Set up for success

Salazar, who has been in prison for seven months on a trafficking charge, said he wants to one day go to culinary school and “hopefully work for Gordon Ramsay.”

Other inmates have goals — including Cervantes-Ponce, who should be getting out in 10 months. He said he wants to get a commercial driver’s license and become a diesel truck mechanic.

But not everyone has chosen a career yet.

Tristan Apache, who earned a GED, hopes to get a job and continue his education when he gets out next month.

“It was not the way I wanted to get (the diploma),” he said, “but I’m happy.”

For these inmates, earning diplomas will help them move on to their next level of education, or if they are close to getting out of the facility, “this sets them up to hopefully be employable for jobs,” New Mexico Corrections Department spokeswoman Brittany Roembach said.

‘You have a choice’

One person who understood what many of the inmates are going through is Garcia, the event’s keynote speaker.

“The reason I am here,” he told the inmates, “is to encourage you guys.”

Garcia said he was a gang member for many years who dealt with drugs and firearms in Los Angeles.

When he was 11, he said, “someone put a gun in my hand and said, ‘The world is yours, now go and take it.’

“I caused a lot of harm. I caused a lot of pain.”

Later on, after Garcia left California and moved in with family in Albuquerque, he said a family member told him to get rid of his tattoos.

“Hell, no,” he said. “People need to see this. People need to see where I came from” and to know it is possible to change their lives.

“(But) when you get out, that will be when the test will come,” Garcia said. “You have a choice. Your past doesn’t have to define your future.”

Photos: 11 inmates receive their diplomas at Central New Mexico Correctional Facility

‘The hard part is us leaving him behind’

Toward the end of the ceremony, warden Jessica Vigil-Richards presented graduates with diplomas. As they walked back to their seats, fellow inmates and families cheered loudly.

A few minutes later, they moved their tassels from the right side to the left of their mortarboards as Vigil-Richards told them congratulations on their accomplishments and for motivating each other and other inmates.

The students then walked to the back, collectively threw up their hats and embraced.

After the ceremony ended, Apache’s mom Shelia Tsosie and grandfather Cecil Tsosie walked over and congratulated him. It was a special day for the family, Cecil said.

While Shelia shared Cecil’s sentiments, she is hopeful Apache continues to make better decisions moving forward.

“I hope he stays on track when he gets out next month,” she said.

A few feet away from them were Cervantes-Ponce and his two sisters and brother.

To be able to see family, “I am so blessed,” he said.

One of his sisters, Isela Ponce, said she enjoyed listening to him speak.

His words “poured my heart” out, and “I am really proud of him,” she said.

While everyone was excited about the big day, the families went home without their loved ones.

“The hard part is us leaving him behind,” Shelia Tsosie said.