We have ambitious goals. Today, we are focused on individual prisoner transformation. In the future, we hope to help transform the US penal system and engage in broader transformation objectives.
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Our Prison TransformationHelp.org Program
We conduct regular TransformationHelp.org training classes in the Utah penal system to provide transformation training to inmates. Our approach to eliminating crime is to transform people with criminal histories into productive citizens. Through this program, and our planned Probation Transformation Program, we provide some of the most disadvantaged members of our society a chance to achieve the American dream.
For curriculum, we use the content from The Imposter, the transformation book written by Kip Kreiling, the founder of TransformationHelp.org. We also use workbooks from the American Community Corrections Institute (ACCI). To learn more about the book The Imposter, go to this link: www.KipKreiling.com. To learn more about ACCI, go to this link: www.accilifeskills.com.
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Our Parolee TransformationHelp.org Program
Environmental factors are one of the root causes of failed transformation efforts, both personal and institutional. We have found that criminal behavior is usually the result of environmental factors, not genetic factors. Disadvantaged members of our society are raised in neighborhoods that foster crime, often end up in prison, and are then sent back to the very environments that helped create their criminal behavior.
We are designing a comprehensive program, and will provide the funding, that enables parolees to establish themselves in new social environments, following their TransformationHelp.org training in prison. We are also creating a Parolee Advocate program, which models the Big Brother program. Through the Parolee Advocate program, we will team up volunteer Advocates with each Parolee. These Advocates will be people with relatively balanced and successful lives and who are typically college educated. The Advocates will provide coaching and mentoring support as the Parolees continue to apply the principles of transformation that they learned during their TransformationHelp.org training in prison.
Both during their prison sentence and later, during their participation in the Parolee TransformationHelp.org Program, we will enable access to other social services to help the parolee advance their education and mitigate learning disabilities and weaknesses. We will attempt to combine environmental changes with any other social services that can truly provide a new start.
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TransformationHelp.org Research Grants
Eventually, we intend to provide funding to advance research in the science of human transformation, particularly research that will improve the effectiveness of our work with institutions and disadvantaged members of society.
If you are engaged in transformation research and would like to be considered for a future TransformationHelp.org research grant, please send an email to Kip.Kreiling@TransformationHelp.org. Please include a brief description of your intended research, including scope and timing.
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Transforming the US Penal System
The US locks up more citizens per capita than any other nation in the world - a disturbing statistic for the land of the free. In 2010, the total US prison population is about 2.5 million, at a total annual tax cost of over $50 billion per year, with another $50 billion in lost productivity. Dangerous criminals do not belong on the street, and certain crimes deserve life-long sentences, maybe even capital punishment. But over half of the US prison population is behind bars for non-violent crimes, often tied to drug use. Many first time prisoners go in with relatively light criminal backgrounds, but come out hardened criminals.
TransformantionHelp.org is conducting research to understand this disturbing condition and to identify alternative, less costly, and more effective methods for criminal reform. Maybe there is a path to criminal transformation that requires fewer cages?