"The stigma you get in jail is you have to watch out for yourself. Don't trust nobody," Olrun said. "With TLC, it's different. You have to have faith and trust and be accountable for your actions. Open your eyes to your faults and your situation."

I have spent a workshop with a graduate of TLC that owns a restaurant  in Anchorage now.  He credits it with saving his life.  If only a few are able to make the committment that TLC requires of the inmates but still turn out men that have turned their lives around I believe it is worth it.

I volunteer at Wildwood Correctional Facility with the women and am working on starting the Anticipate program there.  Seeing the inmates as people and reaching out to help them change their lives through the Alaska Correctional Ministries  is cost effective (as it is staffed by volunteers) and reduces the cost to the state by reducing the recidivism rate.  A sad day to have this program lost and the entire facility closed.