ONLY (AP) — Inmates at the Turney Center Industrial Complex in Tennessee are graduating from Nashville State Community College with associate's degrees in political science and business administration.

The students are part of a program sponsored by the Tennessee Higher Education Initiative, which works with the state Department of Correction to bring college programs to correctional facilities.

According to a news release from the organization, the students graduating on Thursday are part of the program's second graduating cohort.

The release says the group's students have an average GPA of 3.67 percent. According to the group, preliminary data shows participating students have a recidivism rate of less than 10 percent, compared to a state average of 47 percent.

The organization currently enrolls 115 students at Turney and the Northwest Correctional Complex in West Tennessee.