05/30/2025
Spent Friday last week at Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility. In the past 18 months, REBOOT Recovery has expanded its partnership with CoreCivic to prisons across the country. As I type this, they are rolling out a program for Correctional Officers and staff. I was honored to be invited and bring along some good friends.
Here are my takeaways:
1 - I am a Christian. I believe in grace. However, you never know how judgemental you are until you are hugging someone and praying for their healing while also knowing that they took the life of someone’s parent, friend, coworker and neighbor. It tests your belief of just how good God really is and how much he can actually forgive. I think it must be a little bit how Jesus feels about me. Hugging me yet also disgusted by the sin I carry around with me and the harm I’ve caused.
2 - I was two parents and one bad decision away from being in the same place many of these men were. Many of the friends I had growing up have served, or are still serving time in prison. We are all one bad decision away from forever altering the course of our lives.
3 - Trauma is the root. Every hand I shook shared a story of how trauma had shaped their lives. Many shared that if they had recognized the damage trauma had done, and dealt with it sooner, they would’ve never ended up on that side of the bars.
4 - Peer leadership works, regardless of the context. Whether in the military, among first responders, in church, basements, or prisons, the power of shared experience and peer to peer mentorship is unrivaled. There is a level of camaraderie and accountability that cannot be offered by any other form of therapeutic intervention.
If you would ever like to go with me to one of these graduation events, I promise you it will be worth the day. Just shoot me a DM and I’ll send you an invite to the next one.