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The Memorial Seminary Program begun in 2011 was unique to all but one other prison in America at that time. It was modeled after that of the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s at Angola, LA led by Warden Burl Cain who served there from 1995-2016. It was through the dedicated effort of the Heart of Texas foundation led by Grove Norwood along with support by Senator John Whitmire and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that this idea was brought to life at the Darrington (now Memorial) unit. Each year, the students for the next class at Memorial are selected from units throughout the state. In May of 2015 Memorial prison made headlines when the first 33 inmates graduated from the seminary 4-year program. The degrees were awarded in an emotional ceremony that brought tears from students and their families. Every year, these graduates, most of them serving terms that likely will keep them behind bars for most of their lives, are assigned to Texas prisons throughout the state as “field ministers”. These graduates are expected to provide positive, religious role models to inmates who someday will return to the "free world." They work under the supervision of the unit warden and chaplain serving their peers in a number of roles including community service, crisis ministry, counseling ministry, and faith-based ministry.
These graduates of Memorial Seminary have changed the Texas prison system and due to their success, such programs have now expanded to include dozens of similar offerings in a number of states. Most of these programs involve male inmates but the Heart of Texas Foundation’s College of Ministry initiated a program at the Hobby unit for women in 2021 and have also provided the instruction at the Memorial unit since that time. The first women field ministers graduate from Hobby in 2025 in what will be a historic ceremony.
The Seminary Program and Kairos have enjoyed a wonderful mutually beneficial relationship. A number of active students have participated in our Kairos weekends as well as a number of Kairos graduates that came to the Lord through that experience and then went on to become seminary students and eventually field ministers.
“Through the Texas Field Ministers Program, men and women with extremely long sentences have the opportunity to express the rehabilitation that has taken place in their lives starting in the very place where they live.”
References:
https://www.prisonseminaries.org/our-story
https://www.hotfcom.org/who-we-are/our-mission-and-vision/
https://heartoftexasfoundation.org/what-makes-us-different/
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