The Darrington Unit is a maximum-security prison just 30 minutes south of Houston. The Darrington Prison resembles most other maximum-security prisons around the country, except for the fact that it now offers a four-year seminary behind the prison walls. On August 29, 2011, thirty-nine prisoners were formally installed as the first class of seminarians studying to become ministers under a new program that operates within the prison.
The nondenominational program is modeled after a similar program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, more commonly referred to as Angola. Initiated by warden Burl Cain, the Angola Bible College has received considerable attention from both secular and sacred media outlets since its inception in 1995. The Darrington Project, made possible through private funding from the Heart of Texas Foundation, is an extension of the Fort Worth–based Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, hopes that the program will succeed and that new classes will follow each year. There are many reasons why religious people would think this is a good idea, but is there any empirical evidence that such a program might succeed? As it turns outs, there is.
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