Project: New Beginning Graduation

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Graduation day comes this month for two dozen inmates at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.  Twenty-four men enrolled in Project New Beginning will graduate from the program on March 15, 2008.

Project New Beginning is a thirty-week, inmate-designed curriculum focused on developing and improving life skills.  Inmates participate in courses on drug and alcohol abuse, the rights of others, family unity and non-violence.  “I commend the inmates for their motivation and commitment to this effort,” said Commissioner George M. Little.  “This program is rooted on principals of self-awareness and assuming personal responsibility.  I encourage the participants to continue their quest for productive, law-abiding lives.”

Jeffry Gordon, a volunteer with the program said, “On one hand, you find criminals incarcerated for any number of crimes against society and on the other, a hungry group of souls seeking the promise of a new beginning.”  Members of the media are invited to attend the graduation ceremony which will include a viewing of the Film Nashville documentary, “A Bend in the River.”