- The Heart of Texas Foundation
- Texas Department of Criminal Justice
- The State of Texas Governor, Legislators, and Representatives
The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry (Heart of Texas Foundation, Inc.), founded in December 2009, exists completely independently of TDCJ and work with the highest regard for them. We exist completely independently of any federal or state entity and receive no tax dollars of any kind. We operate with the highest regard for the law which provides accommodation and protection in order that we may exist to provide services to those within the state prison system. The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry is: a.) overseen by a board of directors, b.) privately funded, c.) run daily by a Chief Executive Officer, and d.) produces regular third-party financial audits which are committed to the highest level of integrity.
The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry takes the gospel of Jesus Christ into the darkest of places in the Texas prison system through our bachelor degree program which educates men and women with long-term prison sentences. Graduates of The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry are allowed to serve their peers as Field Ministers throughout the Texas prison system.
The Heart of Texas Foundation
College of Ministry
at the Memorial Unit for Men
The education of Texas Field Ministers by The Heart of Texas Foundation began at the Memorial Unit in 2011. One class of 33-36 students has graduated every year in May since 2015. Beginning in August of 2021, The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry began offering the Bachelor of Arts in Applied Ministry, a curriculum written by the leadership of The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry after 10 years of experience. The leadership, faculty, Memorial Field Ministers, and students of the Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry pursue the highest standards of excellence daily. The entire effort is privately funded by generous donors to The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry. Each donor knows that these men will be allowed the privileged opportunity of becoming a Field Minister.
The Heart of Texas Foundation
College of Ministry
at the Hobby Unit for Women
In August of 2021, The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry began offering the Bachelor of Arts in Applied Ministry to the historic first class of women at the Hobby Unit for Women. The Class of 2025 was selected from women’s units from across the state. The leadership, faculty, and students of the Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry at the Hobby Unit for women pursue the highest standards of excellence daily. The entire effort is privately funded by generous donors to The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry. Each donor knows that these women will be allowed the privileged opportunity of becoming a Field Minister.
Texas Department of
Criminal Justice
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has accepted the Texas Field Ministers Program as an agency program through its Rehabilitation Programs Division (RPD). TDCJ accommodates the focus of The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry as a Christian organization, as well as, the religious component of the Bachelor of Arts in Applied Ministry, for inmates who voluntarily apply and continue within the Texas Field Ministers Program. By allowing the Texas Field Ministers Program, TDCJ fulfill their lawful requirement to “accommodate and not merely tolerate” an inmate’s faith expression even in his or her education, whether his or her own faith is Christian or not. This accommodation allows an incarcerated man or woman to learn more about faith practices in general, by specifically studying the Christian faith included in the curriculum, whether or not his or her own faith expression, if any, is Christian.
TDCJ accepts the Texas Field Ministers Program as one of many programs in its utilization of numerous resources, sacred and secular, to address the educational needs of the long-term prison population, a population which is historically under-resourced in most states. The men and women of the prison population with the longest sentences often view pursuing the lowest education, a GED, as futile if their lives are to be spent in prison. TDCJ’s excellence in Corrections is reflected in its willingness to accept the Texas Field Ministers Program. This outstanding option for inmates with extremely long prison sentences—an unprecedented endeavor with many positive measurable results—includes an accredited Bachelor of Arts in Applied Ministry with no online or correspondent component.1 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. Prison is the only place many men and women serving in the Texas Field Ministers Program will ever live. Can they live a rehabilitated life within the prison? Texas Field Ministers are showing us that rehabilitation goals achieved become rehabilitation goals far surpassed. Our desire at The Heart of Texas Foundation is that men and women in the Texas Field Ministers Program would live flourishing lives, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. Evidence exists daily that men serving as Field Ministers have met and far surpassed the rehabilitation goals of TDCJ. While this does not change the length of their sentence or their status as men who are incarcerated, it changes entirely their quality of life inside of the prison and their influence among the inmate population.
The State of Texas Governor, Legislators, and Representatives
The state officials in Texas who were involved earliest in the establishment of Texas Field Ministers are still serving in the same roles as or in higher capacities than they were when the idea for Texas Field Ministers began ten years ago. Senator Dan Patrick (Republican) became Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Texas State Senator John Whitmire (Democrat) holds the title of Dean of the Texas Senate as its longest standing member. Senator John Whitmire also serves as Chair of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee. Each of them has attended every graduation and every fundraising banquet to lend his full support publicly to the Texas Field Ministers Program and to The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry as a privately funded endeavor. Each shares and champions the work of The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry and the Texas Field Ministers every appropriate opportunity he has.
- Jang, Sung Joon, et.al. “Prisoners Helping Prisoners Change: A Study of Inmate Field Ministers Within Texas Prisons.” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 64, no. 5 (April 2020). 470-497. doi:10.1177/0306624X19872966.