Key facts
- Jermaine Wilson transformed his life after enrolling in the Prison Fellowship Academy program.
- Wilson was first incarcerated at 15 for robbery and again at 19 for drug dealing.
- The Prison Fellowship Academy program focuses on accountability, responsibility, and integrity.
- The program received an evidence-based recidivism reduction designation from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
- A Texas Department of Criminal Justice study found inmates in the program had a recidivism rate of less than 6%.
- The designation stems from provisions in the bipartisan First Step Act.
The First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill signed into law in 2018, aimed to reduce recidivism by expanding rehabilitative programming within the federal prison system. This designation and expansion of programs like Prison Fellowship Academy are direct outcomes of that legislation, highlighting a focus on evidence-based rehabilitation to lower re-incarceration rates.