Our Mission
A Legacy of Transformation
Our journey began in 1963 when Harold and Helen Cox of the Madison Church of Christ started volunteering in the Nashville jail. Nearly two decades later, they partnered with Ron Goodman, and together they formed a church-based ministry in 1984 under the oversight of the Harpeth Hills Church of Christ. In 2013, TPOM became a 501(c)3 non-profit, led by our current director, Dr. Thomas Snow. Today, we are a collaborative effort of over 500 volunteers and team members, with a full-service Reentry Center and two beautiful residential transitional homes in Nashville, as well as a men’s home in Memphis.
Our criminal justice system is broken.
The U.S. criminal justice system spends an unprecedented amount of tax dollars to fund a system that is inhumane and ineffective. Instead of making our communities safer and protecting the vulnerable, it disproportionally punishes people living in poverty, people who struggle with mental health issues, and people who suffer from addiction. By seeking to punish rather than rehabilitate, our system destroys families and perpetuates the cycle of recidivism. Cruel, excessive punishment is not the answer.
The U.S. incarceration rate is out of control.
The United States incarceration rate is 698 per 100,000 people, the highest in the world by far. It is 4x greater than the country with the 2nd highest incarceration rate. Despite having only 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. has 25% of the world’s prison population. The scale of America’s criminal justice system is alarming, especially when considering how ineffective it is at rehabilitation. We have asked the police to solve problems like addiction, mental health, and poverty. This is unfair to the police, to the people suffering, and to our communities as a whole.
Tennessee's incarceration rate is far worse.
Tennessee’s per capita incarceration rate is over 20% higher than the already unprecedented U.S. incarceration rate. Tennessee’s felon prison population has grown almost 70% in the past 30 years. This is even more disturbing when taking into account that during this same period, the state’s incarceration rate for drug related offenses grew 26%. Instead of helping people struggling with addiction and mental health issues, we are punishing them for their disease without providing the treatment they need to recover from their illness. This is senseless. It harms the offender and the community.
Punished for life.
The word “felon” brings up images of many negative stereotypes. For many, the term represents the absolute worst in society. Many believe all felons are dangerous criminals who need to be locked away for life so our communities can be safe. Sadly, the social stigma behind the moniker hides an important truth: 50% of felony related convictions in 2016 were non violent. There are over 19 million people in the U.S. who have been convicted of a felony, 17 million of which are free. These disadvantaged Americans live as modern day lepers, unable to find housing, employment, education, or treatment that they desperately need.
