12 inmates at Bannock County Jail graduate from program aimed at helping them reinvent themselves
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POCATELLO – A small group of inmates at the Bannock County Jail is celebrating a big achievement. Each of them graduated from a program designed to equip them with the tools to change their lives.
The 12 inmates donned caps and gowns Thursday morning and gathered in a room inside the jail to celebrate their graduation from Hustle 2.0. The nationwide program was created by formerly incarcerated people to help their currently incarcerated brothers and sisters find success once they get out.
Each of Bannock County’s graduates walked across the room to receive their graduation certificates, earned after months of learning behavioral and interpersonal skills and tools for self-reflection.
“I hope you guys take that away … when you leave this place. It’s all about your mindset, what you want to accomplish. Just hold on to that, because you’re only the one to control what you can do,” Bannock County Sheriff Tony Manu told the graduates.
John Jackson, CEO and founder of the Hustle 2.0 program, started it because of his personal experience behind bars. Jackson was incarcerated for 18 years, the final six of which were served in Pelican Bay State Prison, a supermax prison facility in California.
“The theory of change, versus actually being able to change in a super max prison, are two very different things. So, we decided to use our lived experience to just start developing a program that would reach the population in a very different way,” Jackson told reporters after the graduation ceremony.
He said the Hustle 2.0 rehabilitation program centers on inmates’ lived experience and teaches them how to use their skills in positive ways.
Jackson pointed to businesswoman Shelley Winner as an example of what it looks like to turn one’s lived incarceration experience into an asset. After spending time in prison for drug distribution, Winner became a top Microsoft sales representative and founded Winner’s Circle, another rehabilitative program for incarcerated individuals.
“Hustle normally has a negative connotation. So, what we do in our workbooks is we take a lot of negative connotations and put a 2.0 on it — so the better improved version. This is their hustle, transformed,” Jackson said. “How do you take everything that you’ve learned in the game … and use that to … do something better for yourself, your family and your community?”
And even with the program being set up in 900 facilities across the country, Jackson said the Bannock County Jail is one of its most active.
“Every day I open up my inbox and there’s homework being submitted by the two deputies here (in Pocatello). So, they are heavily committed to the program, and the population is engaging,” Jackson said.
Bannock County Sheriff’s Capt. Lyle Thurgood said that he’s observed the inmates taking part in Hustle 2.0 informally meeting for group discussions, where they’ve supported each other as they worked toward graduating from the program.
“As the inmates are working on the program together, and they’re learning those skills together, they’re communicating about it, and they’re talking about it, and so it gives them something to come together on,” Thurgood said.
Hustle 2.0 graduate Alex Blackburn has been incarcerated in the Bannock County Jail for about two months — and hopes to be out in another three. He said he has struggled with substance abuse in his life. After he leaves the jail, he wants to start a nonprofit to help young people who are going through the same struggle.
“To get to the problem, you gotta go to the root. You can’t start with just adults, you gotta start with the kids. They need to help too, so that’s what I want to do,” Blackburn said.
After completing the program, Blackburn feels that he’s in a better position to achieve this.
“It gave me a better layout of how I want to do a curriculum, and how I can approach (people), because I feel like I’ve been judged based on my appearance and stuff a lot, and … I’m not a bad person, I swear, this is just an outside appearance,” Blackburn said.
Jackson agreed that Hustle 2.0 will leave Blackburn better prepared to achieve that goal.
“They (graduates) can go and start using their lived experience, and now start mentoring youth, and start helping them understand why they’re using drugs, what they’re avoiding, and showing them that there is a way,” Jackson said.
