ANGOLA, La. (AP) - Sixty-four inmates of Louisiana's only maximum-security prison have earned bachelor's degrees in Christian ministry from a Baptist seminary.

  

The state Department of Corrections says Leavell College of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Angola has had more than 300 graduates since it opened in 1995.

  

A news release said the seminary also awarded 23 certificates toward a master's degree in pastoral ministry during Thursday's ceremony at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The master's degree program began last year.

  

The department says many ministry graduates lead prison churches. Others serve as ministers in the prison's hospital and other areas throughout the institution, or work in Corrections Re-Entry Court and other moral rehabilitation programs at Angola.

  

Some will be sent to help chaplains departments in other state prisons.