Prison Programs That Threaten the System: When Change Actually Happens

Jayson Scott Slaymaker explains how one of the rare prison programs that fostered real growth and accountability inside administrative segregation became vulnerable once it began succeeding in ways the system itself does not support.

Since March 2024, I’ve been participating in what’s now known as the Men of Valor program. It’s one of the faith-based programs for guys in administrative segregation (i.e., 24-hour lockup) who are tired of the way they’ve been living, realize it isn’t working for them, and want to change. For the first nine months or so that I was over here, it was a program in name only.

In December of that year, however, a few changes were made. First of all, we got some new guys (prison inmates) to oversee it who seemed to want to make it more than just something where we watched movies every week. The guy who was originally over here seemed to have better things to do. He was coming down here teaching basic Christian principles while running around claiming to be a Satanist and sporting a boyfriend who he said he was “mentoring.” Is that what they call it now? We wanted him out.

When Rehabilitation Programs Begin to Function

In the beginning, after the mentoring Satanist was gone, two guys replaced him to oversee the program. One of them, who I’ll refer to only as K., along with his wife, formed a nonprofit and paid to have the wing painted. (Well, our section. It looks like a high school football team exploded in here.) They bought a 70-inch color flat-screen TV to hang on the wall, books, and a karaoke machine. (No, smart ass. We’re not in here singing “Don’t Stop Believing.” It’s for the mic.)

I’m not trying to sell you on a prison utopia. I think it goes without saying that there are cats over here who just don’t like each other, as well as a few heated conversations that took place (and one close call with a smart ass cop who was going to let a friend of ours die in his cell). The point is, nobody got popped in the mouth. Once or twice, someone had to get up and leave the room to cool off, but that in itself is saying something in this crowd.

Real Change

And that’s my point: I’ve known a couple of these guys for 10–15 years. I know exactly what kind of men they are. I can remember these cats back in the bad old days. I drank with them, did dope with them, and shit-kicked with them. These are men who haven’t got a problem cutting some asshole’s head off.

And before my eyes I watched them change—like Lon Chaney—into men who care about other people, help other people, think about more than just what they’ll get out of it, and have something of value to offer. Shit, sometimes I would look at these guys and wonder what the hell they did with my old friends.

How Prison Programs Are Undermined

In July 2025, however, the other shoe dropped. Several of us talked, and we knew it would eventually happen, but three weeks was fast. The ad seg warden came down here with the news that because this wasn’t actually an “official” TDC program, we wouldn’t be allowed into the dayroom as a group for a while, but scheduled programs would continue from our cells. He said this would be only temporary, while they filed the paperwork that would make the program official. We would all be back out in the dayroom together by the end of July.

Yeah, bullshit. I’ve been in TDC for 33 calendar years and can recognize fuckery when I see it (or hear it). The first indication that I might be right about this was when the warden got kicked upstairs. Of course, we’re being told that this was purely coincidental. Of course it was. And I have a nice piece of swamp land that you may be interested in. Whatever it is, he’s been completely taken out of the game. This man hasn’t any more say-so in anything that does or doesn’t take place around here.

Contradictions

A new ad seg warden has replaced him. One who, by all accounts, is just what you think he is. Since he arrived, he’s made several contradictory statements regarding this program: It will continue as before; it has his full support. The program is in a holding pattern due to population failing an audit. And I don’t give two shits about any program in the lockup.

As of right now, programming from our cells continues, albeit somewhat sporadically. It’s supposed to be three times a week, but I guess the Chapel Mafia has bankers’ hours. Many times when they do grace us with their presence, it’s only to do nothing. As much as they try to sell us on the virtues of population, they can’t stand it themselves. They come down here to get away from that madhouse wing they’re on. On their wing, they’re packed up like cattle. Here they have the whole dayroom to stretch out. On their wing, the one thing that’s guaranteed is that something completely ridiculous will be on TV. Down here, they can watch whatever they want. On their wing, there’s no shortage of assholes to bug them. Down here, they don’t have to say shit, except when they have a mouthful.

Why Programs That Work Are Allowed to Die

All this is to say that when TDC wants to see something take place, it does so fairly quickly. Six months later, they’re not still fooling with paperwork that’s not going through. The fact is, they’re going to let this program die a quiet death. It won’t take but about two to three weeks without anyone coming down here, and it’ll be over. Ironically, this is one of the only programs that TDC offers that halfway works. They offer oodles of programs. There’s one for every day of the week. And without exception, they’re all total failures. Or maybe they’re not. Maybe they serve the exact purpose that TDC wants them to.

After all, for all of their grandiose rhetoric to the contrary, TDC isn’t in the business of rehabilitating people. They’re in the business of warehousing them.

Want to read more? Don’t miss A Prison Philosopher On What Has To Change

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