Former NFL Star Ray Lewis Teams with Bishop T.D. Jakes during Graduation of Effective Reentry from Prison Program

Leah Marieann Klett : Jul 31, 2015
Gospel Herald

"Something must be birthed in you that says 'I'm a conqueror. Time to readjust your comfort zone. Good is fitting in. Great is standing out!" -Ray Lewis

(Texas)—The Texas Offenders Reentry Initiative, a groundbreaking program developed by Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with the graduation of 135 formerly incarcerated individuals. (Photo: Ray Lewis/via Gospel Herald)

Last Sunday, the graduates walked across the stage wearing caps and gowns, joining the 10,000 former offenders who have completed their educations and found jobs through the program within the last decade.

"T.O.R.I. is an intensive 12-month case management program that offers six core services: employment, housing, education, family reunification, health care and spiritual guidance. The program helps former inmates transition to life outside the penal system, dramatically increasing chances for success and reducing the likelihood of recidivism," said The Potter's House in a statement made available to the Gospel Herald. "TORI has served more than 10,000 formerly incarcerated individuals returning to Texas. The U.S. recidivism rate is 67 percent of former prisoners re-arrested and 52 percent re-incarcerated within three years of release. The T.O.R.I. program's recidivism rate is at a low nine percent."

Tina Naidoo, a licensed clinical social worker who oversees T.O.R.I., revealed that it costs taxpayers $60 a day to incarcerate people, but it only costs T.O.R.I less than $4 a day to rehabilitate ex-offenders.

"The national average is about 63 percent that return back to prison,'' she told NBC. "Over the last 10 years what we've seen is about eight to 10 percent," she added.

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