Inmates Honored for Earning GEDs, Food Safety Certification

Eight inmates of the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center have received certificates of achievement for passing their GED examinations.

On Thursday, Alexandria Sheriff Dana Lawhorne and his staff hosted a special ceremony to honor the inmates, and Education Coordinator Krista Sofonia presented Jose Cruz Argueta, Edsel Dugais, Erik Lacayo, Christopher Paulk and Sean Randolph with the honors.

The five wore caps and gowns and were cheered by visiting family members invited to attend the ceremony. Sofonia thanked GED volunteers, including Mary Jane Malone of Del Ray and AnnMarie Almaguer, a graduate student at Marymount University who completed an internship at the detention center this fall.

Joseph Weeks of ORS Interactive joined Lawhorne in congratulating Delane Galloway, Thomas Gupton and Darryl Wise for earning their ServSafe(r) Food Protection Manager Certification. The three inmates, who work in the detention center kitchen, now hold a locally and nationally recognized certification that will make them more competitive candidates for restaurant and food service employment opportunities.

The eight-hour program, administered by ORS Interactive of Falls Church, covered food safety regulations and concepts, including time and temperature control, preventing cross-contamination, cleaning and sanitizing, safe food preparation, receiving and storing food, and methods of thawing, cooking, cooling and reheating food.

The Alexandria Sheriff's Office began offering this type of training to its inmates for the first time this year.