ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albert Aragon dreams of working in real estate one day, but the 29-year-old jail inmate is a high school dropout who believes employers don't hire people with general equivalency diplomas.

Now he's got a chance to get his high school diploma, thanks to a new Albuquerque charter school, one of a handful nationwide serving current and former prisoners the public school system failed to reach.

"When they see a high school diploma, they see that you stuck in through the thick and thin, through the tough times. And when you're out getting jobs, they don't want GEDs, they want diplomas," he said during a break in his language arts class.

The Gordon Bernell Charter School at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque and the Five Keys Charter School in San Francisco have turned their state laws on charter schools into opportunities to grant high school diplomas — rather than GEDs — to jail inmates regardless of their age.

"That sounds like a fairly unique approach," said Todd Ziebarth, a policy analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, when told of the schools. "I think it's yet another example of the different kinds of innovation we're seeing in the public charter school model."

CLASSES BEHIND BARS

Wearing orange jumpsuits, students in Albuquerque attend typical high school math and language classes and science labs in secure rooms next to their pod, which is segregated from the rest of the jail population. Visitors must pass through metal detectors and a series of locked doors to enter the classrooms.

Students are given homework to complete in their cells at night. They practice basketball skills in physical education classes held in an enclosed outdoor area surrounded by high walls.

While charter high schools typically serve students until they are 18 or 19 years old, Gordon Bernell's director, Greta Roskom, said New Mexico law has no age limit for students.

"That's a common misperception," Roskom said. "There is no upper age limit. Anyone in the state of New Mexico who doesn't have a diploma, regardless of age, can be enrolled as a public school student."

GUILTY OF LITERATURE

Aragon said he dropped out of high school as a teenager because insomnia made him sleep late and miss morning classes.

He ended up in jail for fighting, he said, but found in jail that he likes learning.

In a recent language arts class, teacher Kimberlee Hanson, asked about a dozen students to write rap lyrics based on their life experience.

"I just love literature," Aragon said when he had finished the assignment. "You can express yourself. You can make someone cry if you can express something well enough. You can make them smile or cry and be happy. You can bring sorrow. You can bring joy. You can do anything with literature, that's what I love about it."

The classes are fast-paced and allow students to earn high school credit as quickly as they can master each New Mexico curriculum standard. But they must score 80 percent or better to get credit.

Hanson wrapped up the class with a head-spinning list of tasks.

"Tomorrow we're typing stories. Write your stories. Your literary analysis is sticking with you. Monday's our final that ends this unit and then it's off to superheroes for persuasive essays," she told her students.

In addition to a basic high school curriculum, both charter schools teach their inmate students life skills designed to help them be better citizens.

All the teachers at Gordon Bernell agreed that student discipline was the least of their problems. The school has a zero-tolerance policy, so no drugs, no violence and no gangs, or they're out of the program.

Released inmates can continue at the school's downtown campus, Roskom said.

David Gutierrez, 26, is attending school along with his 43-year-old father while serving time for stealing a vehicle. "It makes you think about really doing good on the outside," Gutierrez said. "It gives you hope."