Forever Sober Program
Hello! Lions Heart Fellowship would like to announce its support for the FOREVER SOBER PROGRAM (FSP) on the French M. Robertson unit. Lions Heart Fellowship was established to support peer-led programming within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Forever Sober Program is 100% peer-led and pragmatically successful in changing the prison culture and the lives of men in the program. The FSP is a carefully designed program that encapsulates TDCJ's markers for a successful therapeutic community, incentivized housing, and utilizes an innovative approach to helping men overcome addictions and a criminal lifestyle. FSP promotes healthy lifestyles, positive transformation, and created a "Citizen Culture" within the prison.
Another awesome aspect of the FSP is the goal for expansion. For sixteen years TDCJ has implemented "Faith-based Pods" as a result of the Faith-based Initiatives Act of 2009 (which was repealed during the 88th Legislative Session). These "God Pods" created an atmosphere for prisoners to grow, but there was no tangible goal for expansion. The consequences were that only a minuscule number of prisoners possessed the opportunity for rehabilitation.
The FSP promotes a vision of creating a prison culture that cultivates citizens that return to society as assets to the communities rather than potential liabilities that need to be observed and put on an technological and/or proverbial leash. As a result of this vision, the FSP seeks to expand to other housing areas as funds permit and take ground in the war on criminality. The FSP lives out the principle that when a person's worldview changes their values, beliefs, and behaviors follow suit. Committing crime no longer is an option because his worldview does not allow it.
It is estimated that it will cost fifty thousand dollars to implement a Forever Sober Program pod on a unit. This covers the equipment, TV's, curriculum, and maintenance. Compare that to the costs spent prosecuting repeat offenders. This program is an example of what the Trump Administration means when he says he will follow Texas' lead on Criminal Justice Reform. The FSP is what being smart on crime looks like. It is cost effective and most importantly....it works.
If you would like to support the Forever Sober Program, please donate to Lions Heart Fellowship. Make a difference today.
DONATE TODAY
You can donate at Cash App
$lionsheartfellowship
Please list ‘FSP’ in the memo Section
or send a check or money order to
Lions Heart Fellowship
PO box 80
Stafford, Texas 77497
FSP The Clean-up
The following text and pictures are from the French Robertson Unit Facebook page post dated January 09, 2025 @ 11:14a
Welcome to the “Forever Sober Program” in The Robertson Unit. The F.S.P. is a revolutionary approach to lasting rehabilitation from substance abuse and destructive lifestyles. We ask, “Do you believe people can change?” If yes, the F.S.P. is Robertson Unit’s step forward to reforming men. It is premised on the idea that when given a genuine chance, men are capable and willing to become reformed, and it all comes down to the environment. Many other opportunities rely upon sending men to class for a few hours a day or sending an instructor to areas of the troubled population. This leaves men in the greatest need of reform in the same destructive, harmful, and toxic environments that fuel their substance abuse.
The F.S.P.pioneers effective rehabilitation by creating a therapeutic community that explicitly targets the static population of TDC: life sentences, life without parole, and lengthy sentences. This is where substance abuse and destructive lifestyles are most common because these men have the least amount of hope for the future. This therapeutic community takes men living in a toxic environment and places them in a new and clean-living area, free of destructive opportunities and surrounded by men dedicated to the creation of a healthy society within the prison.
The F.S.P. offers three opportunities for interested men: the ability to go through IPTC (Prison Therapeutic Community) training to become a program sponsor, the privilege of living as a resident in a sober living area, and the opportunity to be a candidate who desires to be free of substance abuse. Beyond the curriculum and training, the participating men of the F.S.P. are also housed in an incentivized living area that gives them the responsibility of living in a real home. They are given daily duties to maintain the program’s furniture, cleaning supplies, TVs, and entertainment opportunities. These men participate in community town hall meetings to decide how their environment will be maintained and improved, what areas of reform the men as a whole need to focus on, and the future problems they can work on to avoid.
The F.S.P. takes away destructive individualism and installs family, removes hate and replaces it with love, and destroys selfishness while creating community. The pictures and videos show the life-changing process that took ninety days to give one hundred and forty-four men the greatest opportunity for reform TDCJ has ever offered. The F.S.P. is the only program that creates a free world environment, instills men believed to be unredeemable and proves that voluntary rehabilitation is possible and happening in the Robertson Unit.
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
FSP Fitness
The following text and pictures are from the French Robertson Unit Facebook page post dated January 22, 2025 @ 7:47p
The Forever Sober program is a recovery program dedicated to holistic lifestyle change. This includes mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health. The program provides weekly opportunities for the participating members to participate in Peer-led fitness training. The training utilizes calisthenics, free weights, battle ropes, weight vests, and everything. It allows men to compete against each other in fitness relays and weight loss competitions, all while encouraging the adoption of fitness as a healthy alternative to substance abuse and harmful lifestyle choices. The Robertson Unit Administration and the unit staff are instrumental in making this program possible, demonstrating their commitment to the well-being of the members.
The motto "just not getting in trouble" is not enough; men must take positive steps in their daily rehabilitation. The administration of the Robertson Unit and staff are interested in more than just creating sober men; they are dedicated to making the physically fit, mentally strong, and spiritually mighty Peer leaders. The goal of the Forever Sober program is to create a positive cultural change, not just within the unit, but throughout the entire system. This change starts with the FSP of the Robertson Unit and is a collective effort: "It takes all of us to make it happen and enforce a positive culture."- Robertson Unit Administration and staff
“Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; when the leader is willing to be transformed.” -Frances Hesselbein.