HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A key department of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is its Rehabilitation Program Division.
According to the TDCJ website online, “The Rehabilitation Programs Division (RPD) serves as the centralized administration and management of activities related to inmate programs within TDCJ.”
During a Investigates discuss with to the Wynne Unit in Huntsville all the way through the statewide lockdown, we had the chance to discuss with with some of the inmates who’re leaders of their gadgets and the director of the Rehabilitation Programs Division.
Life coaches
“I had created so much chaos out there and caused a lot of pain out in the world. So I wanted to do something different,” Raymond Ramirez, an inmate on the Wynne Unit, mentioned.
”As a outcome of seeing this and going via this and notice such a lot of guys get carried out, then it led to me to actually need to make a distinction,” Thomas Miller-El, a Wynne Unit inmate mentioned.
Ramirez and Miller-El are leaders a number of the inmates on the Wynne Unit.
“We just trying to reach out to our peers and just give them hope,” Ramirez shared.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice calls them existence coaches.
Bret Minster doesn’t have the legitimate name of existence trainer, however he may as smartly have it.
“I noticed that a lot of people looked to me when I started changing and they themselves started changing,” Minster mentioned.
The existence trainer positions include expectancies of superb conduct and management from higher-ups inside of TDCJ.
Christopher Carter, who oversees the Rehabilitation Programs Division, has been with TDCJ in a selection of roles for just about 30 years.
“Six weeks of training on cognitive intervention, substance use, recovery issues, and mental health first aid. And they actually go out to the field and work with their peers on those three issues,” Carter mentioned.
The existence coaches have stringent laws and a zero-strikes coverage.
Carter mentioned TDCJ is seeing luck with its existence coaches.
“We’ve seen a tremendous increase in enrollments. We’ve seen a decrease in issues. Those programs actually really work because we know that the peer influence is…it’s a powerful influence,” Carter defined.
Miller-El gives a particularly distinctive viewpoint. He spent twenty years on demise row and had 11 execution dates set.
In 2008, that sentence used to be modified following a Supreme Court ruling relating to jury bias.
Miller-El is now giving again, educating different inmates what it’s to select a new course for themselves.
“Learning how to find yourself and how to love yourself, learn how to respect yourself, because it’s only through learning how to love yourself, that you can love someone else,” Miller-El mentioned.
Rehabilitation programs
Carter mentioned his staff inside the Rehabilitation Programs Division is all the time having a look at new techniques to complement incarcerated peoples’ lives so they have got a higher probability of luck after they’re launched.
“We have a program called Go for the Goal,” Carter mentioned. “We have individualized treatment plans for each individual that’s in prison. And with those plans, it enables my staff to develop treatment assignments for them in certain areas that they need to focus on in order to achieve their rehabilitation.”
Ramirez mentioned how useful he has discovered the Go for the Goal program to be when TDCJ approaches somebody who is solely entering the prison gadget.
“This covers anything you want to go to, any kind of education, want to pursue, need anything religious, overcomers, manhood, you name it. It’s endless of all the opportunities that they’ve given to us,” Ramirez mentioned.
Whether it’s a substance abuse remedy program, intercourse culprit remedy, volunteer products and services, or secondary schooling, TDCJ is making an attempt to hide each and every side of rehabilitation to create a more secure surroundings inside and out.
“We have what we call program expositions, where we actually go out to the facilities and talk to the men and women about those opportunities, get them to sign up right then so we can go ahead and start positive change in their life now,” Ramirez mentioned.
While within the lockdown, the rehabilitation programs had been impacted as a result of inmates weren’t ready to be out of their cells for lengthy sessions of time, except for the in depth searches. However, the programs weren’t stopped altogether.
“During lockdown, we have what we call alternative assignments. Therefore, it’s not going to stop the programs, so to speak,” Carter defined. “Their programs, their treatment assignments, they’re just in a different way. They have phase-specific assignments. For example, if you have someone in an orientation phase and a treatment program, they receive orientation-related curriculum and assignments.”
Aside from the existence trainer positions, there may be a peer support coach program, which in keeping with TDCJ’s website online “the focus of the program is to develop qualified peer support specialists to work within the correctional and community substance use treatment setting.”
“After the initial 46-hour class, trainees will undergo 500 hours of supervised work experience, followed by an exam and a 25-hour practicum to demonstrate proficiency in the peer support domains. Upon successful completion, the trainee may be eligible to receive peer support credentials through the Texas Certification Board,” the website online explains.
“We’ve learned to utilize that. That’s in addition to our intensive treatment programs. So we work hand in hand to kind of our goal is to help the entire person, mind, body, and soul,” Carter mentioned.
By appearing successes like Miller-El, Ramirez, and Minster, TDCJ hopes to create a domino impact the place others are impressed to select a sure trail.
“There are a lot of opportunities that you can change your life on this unit because I did, I changed my life on this unit,” Minster mentioned.
“It’s just it’s overwhelming to see that we live in a time where as that you can actually do things to give back to your fellow man,” Miller-El mentioned.
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