Inmates in this Texas program are leaving prison with jobs — and lower chances of reincarceration

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GATESVILLE — As Amanda Morgan walked out of state prison for the third time in her life, she felt equipped to never return.

She wouldn’t spend the dollars in her pocket on a pack of cigarettes, as she says she did the last two times she was released from prison. And rather than returning to a life of drugs and crime in her previous home, she’d be dropped off at a sober-living facility in San Angelo and had plans to begin a full-time job almost immediately.

“I’ve worked hard to get where I am today,” Morgan, 45, said as she prepared for her release from the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit about 40 miles west of Waco. “I’m going to be good.”

Morgan is one of 30 women who graduated last week from STRIVE, a highly selective, 12-week reentry program the Texas Department of Criminal Justice launched in 2019 to help women incarcerated at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit (formerly called the Mountain View Unit)

address emotional trauma, learn professional skills and land a job prior to their release.

STRIVE, an acronym for Strength Through Restoration, Independence, Vision and Empowerment, has graduated 824 women. Every graduate left prison with a job offer in hand, and graduates are about half as likely to return to prison as the general prison population, state officials said. Within three years of their release, 5.6% of STRIVE participants returned to prison compared to 9.7% of all incarcerated Texas women, according to data provided by prison officials.

Criminal justice reform advocates say lawmakers should pump money into STRIVE and similar programs that contribute to lower rates of recidivism. Research, time and time again, has found such programs to save money that the state would otherwise spend to reincarcerate repeat offenders.

But more dire needs for the state’s roughly 135,000-person prison population mean rehabilitation programs like STRIVE are not where the agency plans to direct additional state dollars in the next budget cycle.

The same day Morgan and other STRIVE graduates donned gowns and walked across a stage to collect their diplomas, the criminal justice agency’s executive director Bryan Collier defended his budget request before state lawmakers.

Last year, the agency submitted a historic $10.9 billion appropriation request for the next two years. Requests include $240 million to construct dorms to house a population projected to increase by about 10% over the next five years, an additional $404.5 million to pay for inmates’ health care costs and $28 million to fund a pay increase for parole officers who had a 33% turnover rate. An additional $215 million is needed for major facility repairs.

Not included in the budget request are dollars to expand rehabilitation and reentry programs which include chaplaincy, reentry transitional coordinators, substance use treatment programs, and the sex offender treatment program. STRIVE also falls into that bucket, though it is run in collaboration with the Windham School District, which provides education to Texas’ incarcerated population. Windham is also not currently seeking state dollars to expand rehabilitation programs, officials said.

“If rehabilitation works, then let’s invest in it,” said Jennifer Toon, who was incarcerated and now runs Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for currently and formerly incarcerated women. “STRIVE is at one facility. How do we replicate that culture and make it more than just three months?”

The STRIVE model 

The STRIVE program is highly coveted for its competitiveness, participants said. They must complete an interview and aptitude assessment to gain admission. The program is open to women who have demonstrated good behavior and are not in high-security custody, among other requirements.

STRIVE living quarters don’t have metal bars nor are they dark, isolating cells. Instead, the women reside communally in a bright, rectangular dorm with rows of cots separated by red brick. Words of encouragement decorate the white walls: “There is no force equal to a woman determined to rise.” “I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”

Participants learn coping skills and healthy ways to respond to triggers in a class focused on trauma and healing. The course also addresses issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. Another few hours are dedicated to career and technology. The women receive an email address and computer access to search for and apply to jobs. They can also complete certifications in professional communication, occupational safety, safe food handling and forklifting to make them more attractive job candidates.

“This is the first time I’ve ever done anything during my incarceration,” said STRIVE graduate Aubrey Nothaft, who said she has been in prison eight times and plans to work in cosmetology, a skill she learned while in prison. “I begged to get into STRIVE. I just don’t want to come back (to prison).”

A program supervisor and two case managers are dedicated to the STRIVE program. There are also two full time teachers from the Windham School District. About six mentors, who are female inmates selected by the warden and other agency officials, live with participants and offer support.

Mentors and community volunteers also teach the students about healthy relationships, addiction recovery, and managing finances.

The program is “the full package with the bow on top,” said Sherri Cogbill, the deputy director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice reentry and integration division. “The confidence they gain through this program is extraordinary.”

Before STRIVE graduates return to the free world, they select hygiene products and professional clothing to take with them. Mentor Shy Belser, 61, helps participants select clothing in their size.

“I can’t be more ready to go home,” said Ahlante Wilson, a STRIVE graduate who left prison last week after serving eight and a half years. “It’s the best feeling.”

A piece of the puzzle 

STRIVE is a bright spot within a state criminal justice system contending with a severe staffing shortage, a growing inmate population and ballooning correctional health care costs. The state prison system is responsible for housing about 135,000 offenders and managing the parole and probation of another 437,000 people.

Reducing recidivism is among the agency’s priorities, outlined in its 2030 Vision. Texas will become a “national leader in rehabilitative programming,” the agency website states.

“To me, public safety is achieved if [inmates] don’t come back,” Collier told state lawmakers during a public hearing last week, adding that education and rehabilitation programs are among the primary drivers of low rates of recidivism.

But as they struggle to respond to immediate operational needs at their more than 100 facilities, agency leaders are not requesting to spend more money on rehabilitation. Instead, their budget proposal targets outdated technology, aging infrastructure, and staffing problems that, according to a Sunset Commission Report, have impacted the agency’s ability to provide adequate public safety.

“It has to be a safe environment for anything good to happen in there,” Collier said during last week’s Senate Finance Committee hearing.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has requested for the 2026-27 budget cycle $424 million to provide rehabilitation and reintegration services to convicted felons — any increase compared to the current budget cycle would only cover the rising costs of salaries and treatment. Rehabilitation and reintegration services include substance abuse treatment and vocational training but don’t include the dollars expended by Windham school district.

Despite competing priorities, some criminal justice advocates say rehabilitation programs like STRIVE should still be expanded and that doing so could ultimately save the agency money.

“My hope is that lawmakers will explore incorporating a boost to the funding for these kinds of effective treatment programs,” said Marc Levin, chief policy counsel at the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice.

The Council of State Governments estimated in a 2024 report that Texas will spend $369 million to reincarcerate people who were released from its prisons in 2022. To avert those costs, the council recommends that state and local governments, along with nonprofit organizations, expand support to individuals returning from incarceration.

Agency officials say they will prioritize rehabilitation by maximizing the existing budget.

Some formerly incarcerated women have suggested adding funding to STRIVE to make it longer than 12-weeks and to expand the services to other women. In fiscal year 2024, about 6,200 women were released from prison or state jail, TDCJ reported.

“I did 33 years in prison. Three months was not enough to help me learn to reintegrate back in society,” former STRIVE participant Donise Cherry said during a Sunset Commission hearing in November.

Prison officials said they are looking to expand elements of STRIVE to other facilities. Last year, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice opened a new prison focused on rehabilitation. One reentry program the prison offers to male inmates is modeled off of STRIVE.

Windham School District superintendent Kristina J. Hartman said the district is not asking for more funds for STRIVE this legislative session because it is currently focusing on assessing their programs.

She said her district will consider growing its offerings in the 2027 legislative session, which may include an ask for technology to ensure students can compete in the job market and access online opportunities.

Reentering society 

Just because Morgan was no longer locked up did not mean life would become easy. Morgan was released last week on parole and would have to satisfy certain conditions, including wearing an ankle monitor, reporting to her parole officer each week and completing a weekly drug test.

Morgan was convicted in 2021 of possession of less than a gram of a controlled substance, methamphetamine. She also has two prior robbery convictions.

The day after Morgan’s STRIVE graduation, she arrived at the sober living house where she tried to start off on the right foot. She planned to report to parole, visit the food stamp office, buy a few clothing items and finalize the details of her job, but she ran into obstacles.

“I got on the wrong bus, ended up going the wrong way and had to explain that to my parole officer,” Morgan said. “It was a very stressful day. I didn’t get anything accomplished.”

After realizing the Goodwill office she was slated to work at would take hours to reach by bus, Morgan found a job at a landscaping company. The training she completed in horticulture and urban farming while in prison would come in handy, she said. The job was short lived, though. The company didn’t have enough work for Morgan, so she is back on the search for a full-time job.

Despite the ups and downs of life post incarceration, Morgan says she feels prepared and committed to bettering her life.

“I feel like they covered everything we would need in order to start fresh,” Morgan said about STRIVE. “It’s all going to work out.”