- Yes, I can do 500 for that.

- [Narrator] When Adonis Adkins got sent to Pamlico Correctional, he didn't want that to be the last chapter in his life.

- I was going to be a psychologist.

I always wanted to be a therapist my entire life.

- [Narrator] But what he ultimately found was a second chance.

Thanks to a partnership with Pamlico Community College, Adkins enrolled in a unique associate's degree program.

[phone dialing] Today he runs a trucking dispatch company outside of Charlotte.

The program he took is called Human Service Technology, which centers around learning life skills, including how to write a business letter, promote teamwork, and how to improve anger management.

- It taught me how to control my own emotions, but also be able to look outside and understand somebody else's, and I think that was huge.

The big thing about the program was, it was bigger than just class.

- 98% would recommend it to other offenders.

- [Narrator] The HST program is thanks to Jim Ross, president of Pamlico Community College, who got invited to visit the prison on his second day at work back in 2018.

- To have a mindset as they leave, they are now a college graduate, and this self-image allows them to go out and not only change their life for the better, but it keeps their kids from going into crime.

- We do.

I'm glad that we're part of it.

- [Narrator] The partnership between the college and the prison is a key factor in making this program a success, but bridging that cultural gap between the two has been a challenge at times.

- To us, they're still students.

I had a guy one day that was about tearing, and I'm like, "Man what's up with you?

Man, we ain't, you know?"

He said, "You called me mister."

I'm like, "Well, you are a mister."

He said, nobody ever showed them that kind of respect in there.

And so that kind of moved him, to be referred to as "mister."

- [Narrator] The Pamlico prison education program is the largest of its kind in the state.

That growth comes with other challenges, like space and teaching staff, but instructors focus on what the end goal is, which is helping build a skilled workforce.

- Just because you're failing and you've gotten in trouble, doesn't mean you can't do things to make our lives better.

- ETA to pickup is- - [Narrator] Adkins says the skills he learned in HST helped him not only do better in business but gave him the focus to create a better life for himself.

- And it gives you the feeling of, okay, maybe I'm not in here by myself.

And you start making friends and you start having guys that you can rely on or at least have somebody to talk to.

- [Narrator] He says when those fellow inmates become friends and even colleagues, it's not just a new crop of employees graduating, but the groundwork for a healthy community.

For ncIMPACT, I'm Evan Howell.