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GATESVILLE — As Amanda Morgan walked out of state prison for the third time in her life, she felt equipped to never return.
She wouldn’t spend the dollars in her pocket on a pack of cigarettes, as she says she did the last two times she was released from prison. And rather than returning to a life of drugs and crime in her previous home, she’d be dropped off at a sober-living facility in San Angelo and had plans to begin a full-time job almost immediately.
“I’ve worked hard to get where I am today,” Morgan, 45, said as she prepared for her release from the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit about 40 miles west of Waco. “I’m going to be good.”
Morgan is one of 30 women who graduated last week from STRIVE, a highly selective, 12-week reentry program the Texas Department of Criminal Justice launched in 2019 to help women incarcerated at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit (formerly called the Mountain View Unit)
address emotional trauma, learn professional skills and land a job prior to their release.
STRIVE, an acronym for Strength Through Restoration, Independence, Vision and Empowerment, has graduated 824 women. Every graduate left prison with a job offer in hand, and graduates are about half as likely to return to prison as the general prison population, state officials said. Within three years of their release, 5.6% of STRIVE participants returned to prison compared to 9.7% of all incarcerated Texas women, according to data provided by prison officials.
Criminal justice reform advocates say lawmakers should pump money into STRIVE and similar programs that contribute to lower rates of recidivism. Research, time and time again, has found such programs to save money that the state would otherwise spend to reincarcerate repeat offenders.
But more dire needs for the state’s roughly 135,000-person prison population mean rehabilitation programs like STRIVE are not where the agency plans to direct additional state dollars in the next budget cycle.
Amanda Morgan leaves after the STRIVE graduation ceremony inside the chapel. Morgan was released from prison later the same day. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
Dominique Morris tends to her unit in the STRIVE dormitory-style room. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
The same day Morgan and other STRIVE graduates donned gowns and walked across a stage to collect their diplomas, the criminal justice agency’s executive director Bryan Collier defended his budgetrequest before state lawmakers.
Last year, the agency submitted a historic $10.9 billion appropriation request for the next two years. Requests include $240 million to construct dorms to house a population projected to increase by about 10% over the next five years, an additional $404.5 million to pay for inmates’ health care costs and $28 million to fund a pay increase for parole officers who had a 33% turnover rate. An additional $215million is needed for major facility repairs.
Not included in the budget request are dollars to expand rehabilitation and reentry programs which include chaplaincy, reentry transitional coordinators, substance use treatment programs, and the sex offender treatment program. STRIVE also falls into that bucket, though it is run in collaboration with the Windham School District, which provides education to Texas’ incarcerated population. Windham is also not currently seeking state dollars to expand rehabilitation programs, officials said.
“If rehabilitation works, then let’s invest in it,” said Jennifer Toon, who was incarcerated and now runs Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for currently and formerly incarcerated women. “STRIVE is at one facility. How do we replicate that culture and make it more than just three months?”
The STRIVE model
The STRIVE program is highly coveted for its competitiveness, participants said. They must complete an interview and aptitude assessment to gain admission. The program is open to women who have demonstrated good behavior and are not in high-security custody, among other requirements.
STRIVE living quarters don’t have metal bars nor are they dark, isolating cells. Instead, the women reside communally in a bright, rectangular dorm with rows of cots separated by red brick. Words of encouragement decorate the white walls: “There is no force equal to a woman determined to rise.” “I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”
Participants learn coping skills and healthy ways to respond to triggers in a class focused on trauma and healing. The course also addresses issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. Another few hours are dedicated to career and technology. The women receive an email address and computer access to search for and apply to jobs. They can also complete certifications in professional communication, occupational safety, safe food handling and forklifting to make them more attractive job candidates.
“This is the first time I’ve ever done anything during my incarceration,” said STRIVE graduate Aubrey Nothaft, who said she has been in prison eight times and plans to work in cosmetology, a skill she learned while in prison. “I begged to get into STRIVE. I just don’t want to come back (to prison).”
STRIVE graduates listen to a speech during the STRIVE graduation ceremony inside the chapel. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
Quintagia Scott compliments a Texas Department of Criminal Justice officer during the graduation ceremony. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
A program supervisor and two case managers are dedicated to the STRIVE program. There are also two full time teachers from the Windham School District. About six mentors, who are female inmates selected by the warden and other agency officials, live with participants and offer support.
Mentors and community volunteers also teach the students about healthy relationships, addiction recovery, and managing finances.
The program is “the full package with the bow on top,” said Sherri Cogbill, the deputy director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice reentry and integration division. “The confidence they gain through this program is extraordinary.”
Before STRIVE graduates return to the free world, they select hygiene products and professional clothing to take with them. Mentor Shy Belser, 61, helps participants select clothing in their size.
“I can’t be more ready to go home,” said Ahlante Wilson, a STRIVE graduate who left prison last week after serving eight and a half years. “It’s the best feeling.”
A piece of the puzzle
STRIVE is a bright spot within a state criminal justice system contending with a severe staffing shortage, a growing inmate population and ballooning correctional health care costs. The state prison system is responsible for housing about 135,000 offenders and managing the parole and probation of another 437,000 people.
Reducing recidivism is among the agency’s priorities, outlined in its 2030 Vision. Texas will become a “national leader in rehabilitative programming,” the agency website states.
“To me, public safety is achieved if [inmates] don’t come back,” Collier told state lawmakers during a public hearing last week, adding that education and rehabilitation programs are among the primary drivers of low rates of recidivism.
But as they struggle to respond to immediate operational needs at their more than 100 facilities, agency leaders are not requesting to spend more money on rehabilitation. Instead, their budget proposal targets outdated technology, aging infrastructure, and staffing problems that, according to a Sunset Commission Report, have impacted the agency’s ability to provide adequate public safety.
“It has to be a safe environment for anything good to happen in there,” Collier said during last week’s Senate Finance Committee hearing.
Olandera Langston receives her certificate of completion. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
Graduates applaud during their STRIVE ceremony at the Patrick O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has requested for the 2026-27 budget cycle $424 million to provide rehabilitation and reintegration services to convicted felons — any increase compared to the current budget cycle would only cover the rising costs of salaries and treatment. Rehabilitation and reintegration services include substance abuse treatment and vocational training but don’t include the dollars expended by Windham school district.
Despite competing priorities, some criminal justice advocates say rehabilitation programs like STRIVE should still be expanded and that doing so could ultimately save the agency money.
“My hope is that lawmakers will explore incorporating a boost to the funding for these kinds of effective treatment programs,” said Marc Levin, chief policy counsel at the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice.
The Council of State Governments estimated in a 2024 report that Texas will spend $369 million to reincarcerate people who were released from its prisons in 2022. To avert those costs, the council recommends that state and local governments, along with nonprofit organizations, expand support to individuals returning from incarceration.
Agency officials say they will prioritize rehabilitation by maximizing the existing budget.
Some formerly incarcerated women have suggested adding funding to STRIVE to make it longer than 12-weeks and to expand the services to other women. In fiscal year 2024, about 6,200 women were released from prison or state jail, TDCJ reported.
“I did 33 years in prison. Three months was not enough to help me learn to reintegrate back in society,” former STRIVE participant Donise Cherry said during a Sunset Commission hearing in November.
An inmate transcribes a math textbook into braille in the Billman Braille Center at the Patrick O’Daniel Unit. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
STRIVE graduates celebrate their graduation at the dormitory-style room in the Patrick O’Daniel Unit. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
Prison officials said they are looking to expand elements of STRIVE to other facilities. Last year, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice opened a new prison focused on rehabilitation. One reentry program the prison offers to male inmates is modeled off of STRIVE.
Windham School District superintendent Kristina J. Hartman said the district is not asking for more funds for STRIVE this legislative session because it is currently focusing on assessing their programs.
She said her district will consider growing its offerings in the 2027 legislative session, which may include an ask for technology to ensure students can compete in the job market and access online opportunities.
Reentering society
Just because Morgan was no longer locked up did not mean life would become easy. Morgan was released last week on parole and would have to satisfy certain conditions, including wearing an ankle monitor, reporting to her parole officer each week and completing a weekly drug test.
Morgan was convicted in 2021 of possession of less than a gram of a controlled substance, methamphetamine. She also has two prior robbery convictions.
Morgan, right, along with other inmates, prepares to be released from the Patrick O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
STRIVE graduates are walked out of the facility to be released from the unit in Gatesville. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
The day after Morgan’s STRIVE graduation, she arrived at the sober living house where she tried to start off on the right foot. She planned to report to parole, visit the food stamp office, buy a few clothing items and finalize the details of her job, but she ran into obstacles.
“I got on the wrong bus, ended up going the wrong way and had to explain that to my parole officer,” Morgan said. “It was a very stressful day. I didn’t get anything accomplished.”
After realizing the Goodwill office she was slated to work at would take hours to reach by bus, Morgan found a job at a landscaping company. The training she completed in horticulture and urban farming while in prison would come in handy, she said. The job was short lived, though. The company didn’t have enough work for Morgan, so she is back on the search for a full-time job.
Despite the ups and downs of life post incarceration, Morgan says she feels prepared and committed to bettering her life.
“I feel like they covered everything we would need in order to start fresh,” Morgan said about STRIVE. “It’s all going to work out.”
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
www.youtube.com – FOX 7 Austin – 2025-04-16 20:32:45
SUMMARY: Aean Libidi, a former UT Austin student, faces 11 charges following a violent spree near the campus, including felony assault and a terroristic threat. His criminal record began in April 2024 with a criminal trespassing charge. Recently, he randomly punched people and groped women along the drag, causing fear among students and local business owners—one boutique owner has closed her shop due to intimidation. UT officials support law enforcement’s efforts but urge prosecutors to take his pattern of violence seriously, as Libidi remains in jail on a $60,000 bond, heightening concerns for community safety.
A man accused of attacking and threatening people on the UT Austin campus is facing more charges
#FOX7Austin brings you the important stuff like breaking news, weather, and local stories out of Central #Texas. But also plenty of fun stuff, like Pet of the Weekend, the best of our archives, and all those ‘only-in-#Austin’ stories.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-16 20:10:00
(The Center Square) – The Texas oil and gas industry is concerned about the uncertainty surrounding energy production and prices despite President Donald Trump’s vow to “drill, baby, drill.”
After Trump advanced his position on tariffs engaging in trade wars with multiple countries, crude oil prices dropped by more than 20% below the $65-$70 per barrel threshold for operators in the Permian Basin to break even.
After the Trump administration announced a tariff exemption on certain items, the U.S. crude benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, slightly increased to $62.96 as of Wednesday. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, was at $65.85.
After the Trump administration pushed OPEC countries to increase output, eight OPEC+ countries agreed to phase out their voluntary output cuts and increase production by 411,000 barrels per day by May, prompting oil prices to again drop.
Goldman Sachs also reduced its December 2025 oil forecasts, putting WTI at $58 a barrel and Brent at $62 a barrel, projecting a “stagnating” economy as a result.
As the market and U.S. oil and natural gas industry reeled, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Tuesday that the industry has experienced ups and downs before.
“In 2015 and 2016, oil prices twice hit $28 [per barrel], and what happened? What did the U.S. shale industry do in that time? Innovate, get smarter, drive their costs down, and that’s what’s happening right now,” he said. “The industry continues to innovate, continues to get smarter and wiser. Of course, the U.S. shale industry is gonna survive and thrive, but of course investment decisions are going to be tailored if prices stay this low for a long period of time. But I’m quite bullish on the U.S. industry.”
Operators in Texas don’t agree.
Kirk Edwards, president of Odessa-based Latigo Petroleum, said, “The U.S. oil and gas industry is in shock – caught between two extremes.”
“The domestic oil and gas industry is reeling from the whiplash of back-to-back administrations with starkly different energy policies,” he said in an open letter to Wright and Interior Secretary Dough Burgum published on social media. After the Biden administration declared a war on fossil fuels, cancelling leases and expanding regulatory hurdles, “in true form, the industry adapted,” he said. “Despite the headwinds, U.S. producers survived and in many cases, thrived, through ingenuity and grit.”
After Trump was reelected, “the initial mood in the industry was euphoric” because the industry believed the administration was “pro-energy,” he said. “But within the first few months, a different set of challenges emerged. Tariffs have driven up the cost of drilling, squeezing margins just as operators look to expand.”
The Trump administration pushing OPEC to increase production in an already oversupplied global market caused oil prices to plummet. “This sharp price decline has thrown U.S. producers into limbo,” he said. Trump’s motto, “Drill, baby, drill,” turned into “wait, baby, wait,” he said. As a result, the industry isn’t adding rigs to drill when “price signals are so unclear.”
“To say the industry is concerned would be an understatement, shock is a more accurate term. The stakes are high. If we lose talent, technology, and momentum now, we risk undermining years of progress towards true energy security. Hopefully, clearer heads will prevail within the Trump administration. A strong, stable domestic oil and gas sector isn’t just an economic asset, it’s a strategic necessity,” he said.
Trump’s position on tariffs is concerning the industry on many fronts, Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), said. TIPRO represents nearly 3,000 individuals and companies from the Texas oil and gas industry.
“TIPRO and our members have long been concerned with tariffs on aluminum and steel that could add additional cost and slowdown exploration and production activity Texas,” Longanecker told The Center Square. “Our members procure this material from both domestic and international suppliers and maintaining the supply diversity is important to control costs and availability. Steel is also in the 8-10 percent range of operating costs for E&P companies, which can vary, and change based on numerous factors, including supply chain disruptions and policy decisions.”
He cited examples. “Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) on critical items, production casing, come from top tier mills for some of our members, 50% domestic and 50% import and may fluctuate as much as 20% either way year to year depending on supply chain issues or other factors, such as the best product available for the environment the tubes will go into (who has the best product for the well conditions).
“OCTG on less critical strings, surface and intermediate casings, can be more import, sometimes 30% domestic and 70% import and much of that import being South Korea. U.S. steelmaking capacity for OCTG is being allocated mainly to producing the more critical and profitable items, such as production casing, and is the biggest reason for the necessity of more import for surface and intermediate pipes.”
As Longanecker and others have advocated for greater pipeline infrastructure to increase production and reduce emissions, the cost for line pipe and other products will also increase as well as “further downward pressure on crude oil prices,” he added. “Tariffs could also impact demand if it contributes to an economic downturn.”
The industry remains hopeful that the Trump administration will “work through these negotiations in an expedited manner with key trading partners,” he said.
SUMMARY: Texas lawmakers are considering House Bill 5061, which aims to prevent state contractors and vendors from conducting unauthorized surveillance on lawmakers, state employees, or individuals raising concerns about state operations. The bill also seeks to stop intimidation, coercion, and retaliation, and explicitly prohibits using private information to influence state decisions. The bill follows allegations that Medicaid contractor Superior HealthPlan hired investigators to gather information on lawmakers and others. The company denied wrongdoing, stating the research used publicly available information. The bill is intended to prevent future abuses and reinforce ethical standards for state contractors.
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