Family Connections

(Left to right) Angela Knighten and her daughter, Kenshavia.

For some, serving the state of Texas is a family affair.

Angela Knighten, a 22-year employee of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), who spent 20 years in corrections and the last two in the Rehabilitation and Reentry Division as a Case Manager IV at Travis State Jail in Austin, was surprised to learn her daughter, Kenshavia Knighten, who was 20 at the time, applied to work at the unit.

“I found out through the warden,” Angela recalled. “He said, ‘Your daughter’s coming in for an interview,’ and I was like, ‘where!?’”

At first, she thought it was for a correctional officer position, but that wasn’t the case.

“She wanted to do something just for a little bit while she was attending her nursing program, so she went to the mailroom, and she’s been there ever since,” Angela said.

That “little bit” turned into an Administrative Assistant II position for the last five and a half years for Kenshavia as she loved it so much and enjoys working at the same unit as her mom.

“It makes it easier, and it makes it better because I know I have someone here for me all the time,” Kenshavia said.

Seeing family never gets old for Angela.

“I enjoy seeing my daughter every day because we have that relationship to where we do talk every day at work. I just enjoy seeing her flourish. It’s exciting to me.”

Further north in Region VI, it’s not just the family in grey that’s working at Woodman State Jail.

At 42 years old, Agnes Lefua was feeling lost in her various customer service jobs, and she wanted something more. After expressing this to her brother-in-law, Tapuni Uli, a CO IV, she was soon led in a new direction where a stable income and hours were a possibility. Tapuni encouraged Agnes and even his son, Pale Uli, CO II, to join him at TDCJ. He and his son both started their roles within the agency last year.

(Left to right) Tapuni Uli, Pale Uli, and Agnes Lefua.

“They graduated before me, but they were the ones that motivated me to come join,” Agnes said.

For Tapuni, who has a degree in criminal justice and served five years in the Army and 10 in the Coast Guard, it was a no-brainer to join TDCJ after talking to a recruiter.

“It definitely helped me with the order and ranking structure,” Tapuni said.

Fresh out of high school, Pale was looking for direction in his life and his dad had a good idea of where Pale could find what he was looking for.

“I was asking if he had any plans or sports, he wanted to do. He didn’t really have a plan, so I said this is an opportunity that you can do this with me if you want,” Tapuni said.

They both went to the Region VI academy and flew through the training with Pale excelling.

“I joined TDCJ, because I needed to find structure and it really helped me grow and mature,” Pale said.

His proud father saw potential right away.

“He has a good head on his shoulders. When I was in the academy, I was the captain of the class and then the sergeant asked if I wanted to give it to Pale, because I see a lot of potential in him. I said, ‘yes’ and he became the captain, and he thrived and did a really good job,” Tapuni said.

Now, the third member of the soon-to-be trio, Agnes, had her motivation from both her own family and her family in gray.

“They always text me, ‘have a great day’ and ‘love and miss you.’ Just that motivation keeps me going,” she said.

“It was a six-week program and my sergeant and my class, the major there, everybody helped each other. Everybody was motivated and dedicated to bringing out our best, which they did with me.”

Now the three are reunited at Woodman and Agnes knows she’s in a good place.

“I get my actual family, and then I get my Woodman family who have supported me and helped me along this journey.”

For the Knightens, Ulis, Lefua and many other family members working alongside each other, TDCJ is a career that spans generations of families.