June 4, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Darrington Seminary Graduates Transfer to Six TDCJ Units

Huntsville, TX – Recent graduates of the Darrington Seminary Program are now ministering among other offenders at six Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities statewide with the assistance of unit chaplains.

The nondenominational program, sponsored by TDCJ, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the Heart of Texas Foundation, trains offenders who are serving lengthy sentences to become peer ministers. After graduating from the program, the offenders are assigned to other Texas prison facilities where they work with unit chaplains to minister to their fellow offenders.

A total of 25 offenders were recently assigned to six units (Beto, Coffield, Ellis, Estelle, Ferguson and Michael) after graduating from the Darrington Seminary Program last month.

“We are proud to be a part of this innovative program and expect great results from these graduates,” said TDCJ Executive Director Brad Livingston. “The seminary program has the potential to help these men change their thought patterns, which in turn can change their lives, and the lives of everyone around them.”

The seminary operates as an extension campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. After completing the 125 credit-hour program over four years, graduates receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Biblical studies.

"Incarcerated people remain the objects of God’s great love and compassion and should by all means have the opportunity to better themselves educationally and spiritually,” said Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Seminary. “I love these men and thank God for every one of them."

The program comes at no cost to taxpayers – it is funded through grants and donations. It is patterned after a similar program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, which has been credited with a 70 percent reduction in offender violence since its inception in 1995.

In 2011, Southwestern Seminary launched undergraduate classes at the Darrington Unit in Rosharon, offering a Bachelor of Science in Biblical Studies. An additional class of students has been added each year since and the current number of enrolled student/offenders is 150.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has just under 150,000 offenders incarcerated at 109 facilities across the state.

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