More than 250 Texas prisoners are on the waitlist to join the Lee College reentry class. Programs like these prepare students to find jobs and help lower recidivism.
, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.Green was reenacting his response to getting his first smartphone after nearly 26 years in prison for a group of inmates at the John M. Wynne Unit in Huntsville.
Green told the story as part of a class this summer to prepare inmates to encounter technology before they are released. But the lesson wasn’t just about that. It was about the barriers that incarcerated Texans face when they reenter society and how they can cope with them.Green, a reentry specialist at Baytown-based Lee College, leads the only class in the state that helps prepare incarcerated Texans for life after prison.
“Would you allow me to start this class immediately. I really want to help to get my life back on track for reentry to society,” one inmate, Mark Thompson, wrote in neat cursive. Reentry programs aim to help prisoners make positive life choices during the transition. Research shows these programs can reduce recidivism and help former inmates. The classes’ structured group settings can also help them create social networks and find mentors at a time when many will struggle to rebuild relationships or start new ones.
“It wasn't anything about, ‘These are jobs you can look at; if you're thinking about school, these are the scholarships that you can apply for.’ It was none of that,” said Jackson, who is now studying to become an attorney for incarcerated people. “From what I experienced, there were none, absolutely none, just nothing.”Nearly all the students in Green’s class are close to leaving prison.
When these students leave Huntsville, they’ll scatter across the state to rebuild their lives. Some will go back to the towns their families live in. Others will choose big cities to get a fresh start. Wherever they settle, there’s help out there, Green said. The class gives them information about where to look.
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