We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jim Buffington. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jim below.

Jim, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I met a Bridges To Life staff member who invited me to attend a Bridges To Life graduation ceremony at the end of the 14 week restorative justice program in a prison. I then started as a crime victim speaker volunteer at Bridges To Life in 2004 inside prisons sharing the details of my story of my mother being murdered and my father being convicted of the crime of Capital Murder and sentenced to the Death penalty. My perspective of being both the son of a victim and and the son of an offender provides a connection to both sides of crime.

I have stayed involved with Bridges To Life as a weekly volunteer facilitator in a local prison. Then, in 2016 I was hired to be the Chief Operating Officer of Bridges to Life.

After much experience in the Business field of financial services, with my passion for restorative justice prison work and my own personal story of forgiveness, this role at Bridges To Life was a perfect fit at the right time in my life. Yes, I am very happy to be able to daily impact lives to help heal crime victims, rehabilitate offenders in prisons, and make our communities safer.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Bridges To Life (BTL) is a Texas-based nonprofit founded in 1998 that provides a high-impact restorative justice program to incarcerated offenders. Along with exploring concepts from confession to restitution in our 14-week curriculum, offenders also hear firsthand from crime victims and face the true impact of crime on others. Through our unique process, offenders experience a change of heart that allows them to make positive changes in their lives. Since inception, more than 67,000 men and women have graduated from the BTL program with the help of over 3,200 volunteers in 16 states and 7 countries.

From our work with thousands of offenders, we know that many who are incarcerated also struggle with alcohol and drug addiction. We have received frequent feedback that in addition to helping offender participants deal with their criminal actions, the BTL program also has a substantial impact on helping them understand what role their addictions have played in their behaviors and choices. This feedback has led us to successfully expand the BTL program into all of the Texas Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Centers (Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin). Our program is an intervention that seeks to break the cycle of crime and addiction, benefiting not only those we serve in prisons and treatment centers but the loved ones they return to after release. The BTL program contributes to the repair of family relationships, the restoration of lives, improvement in behavioral health, and the stability and safety of communities.

Bridges To Life has volunteer service opportunities where we meet once per week for 2 hours in the evening for 14 weeks in local prisons, rehabs, and treatment centers.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When volunteers were restricted from entering prisons in March 2020 due to COVID-19, BTL was forced to suspend all program activity. To adapt to this unprecedented condition, in August 2020 we pivoted the delivery method of our program to a self-study version to be utilized for the duration of COVID-19 concerns. By the end of 2021, over 7,800 inmate participants had graduated from our Self-Study Program, which received the Texas Governor’s Criminal Justice Volunteer Service Award for “Most Innovative Program of 2020.”

Although it was a worldwide pandemic that inspired this development, an unexpected silver lining appeared: the BTL program is now available in three formats: volunteer-facilitated, peer-facilitated by inmates, and self-study. We work diligently to maintain the quality of our program. These new opportunities for growth and expansion allowed us to make further impact.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Recidivism studies conducted with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) indicate that only 14% of BTL graduates return to prison (recidivate) within 3 years after release, compared to 38-40% nationally. This means fewer crimes, fewer crime victims, and a consequent increase in the safety and well-being of our communities. Additionally, crime victims who participate in the BTL program as volunteers report experiencing a sense of empowerment that enhances both their healing and the ability to forgive and move forward in their lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bridgestolife.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bridgestolife
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bridges-to-life/

Image Credits
Bridges To Life Staff, Volunteers, and Graduates.