The Story of T.E.N.T.

"I'm eligible for Community Corrections and I don't know how I'm supposed to fill out these forms my Case Manager gave me."

"I got a parole hearing coming up and I don't know what I'm supposed to say."

Walk into any prison, anywhere, and in no time, you will hear those two statements. There is a deep well of institutional knowledge in every prison system from which one can draw the solutions to those and many other common prison problems. The keepers of that knowledge usually fall into one of two categories: 1) Old Heads and 2) Old School Convicts. Old Heads (OH) develop a variety of nonviolent problem-solving skills that allow them to survive prison conflict-free for years at a time. Old School Convicts (OSC), on the other hand, live their lives by the Convict Code, which at its core recognizes violence as a legitimate problem-solving skill and often seeks out conflict.

By 2009, James Morrell had done eight years and acquired enough institutional knowledge to receive OH recognition from his peers. He had learned how to avoid unnecessary conflicts with staff, recognize and steer clear of situations that could turn violent, and perhaps most importantly, how to fill out paperwork and prepare for parole hearings. Both a role model and adviser, Morrell exercised a very quiet kind of influence over a very specific subculture of prisoners: those who were mostly older and just wanted to get out of prison as soon as possible while avoiding conflict.

At the same time, Janos Toevs was returning to the general population after his third stint in long-term solitary confinement (Ad Seg). At that point, he had done 20 years in total, and this time it had been eight years straight in solitary. His history of violence, escape attempts, and strict adherence to the Code had long since established his OSC status. So much so, there was a general belief that he would soon find himself back in long-term solitary. But Toevs had filed a lawsuit regarding the denial of due process in Ad Seg. He knew he had been let out in hopes that he would engage in his usual OSC nonsense, thus allowing prison officials to claim that was why they couldn't let Toevs and others like him out of solitary. Toevs was committed to staying cool until he won his lawsuit, which he did in 2012, changing prison conditions nationwide. In that process, Toevs (in his words) became an "accidental good guy" and hasn't had any disciplinary infractions since.

Morrell and Toevs met through a mutual acquaintance, Christopher Malone, in 2017. Their first work together was arranging a cancer awareness class for prisoners, culminating in a Relay for Life event on their prison yard. Over 400 prisoners participated with only one security staff member supervising. Thousands of dollars were raised, but more importantly, the event proved the concept upon which Colorado T.E.N.T. was founded: when acting as positive, prosocial mentors, Old Heads are most effective when the knowledge they impart is delivered within the framework of an Old School Convict permission structure. The most effective methodology for delivering programming to prisoners is through an outside, nonprofit, third-party provider network utilizing prisoners as Personal In-reach Nodes (PINs).

To the surprise of prisoners and staff alike, the Relay for Life event began as all such events do, with a silent lap to honor those who have been lost to cancer. Morrell and Toevs managing to get 400-plus prisoners of all races, ages, criminal convictions, and affiliations to remain silent for a full lap seemed like magic to some. Toevs knew it was a simple matter of Signaling. Rooted in basic economic principles, Signaling is a way to make determinations about unobservable qualities. When it came to the Relay for Life event, Toevs the OSC could tell by classroom behavior during the cancer class who would need to be on a team supervised by one of the more serious captains. Choosing captains was also rooted in Signaling.

In their discussions before, during, and after the event, Morrell (who was already quite adept at knowing how to counsel mature prisoners who had never bought into the Convict Code to begin with) asked Toevs if, and how, he could tell which bad guys had really changed their ways and which were just pretending in hopes of gaming the system. Toevs said he could but that the real problem was helping the OSCs who had long since realized they'd had enough but just didn't know how to change. When Morrell asked if guys like that really could change, Toevs responded, "I did. So did Malone."

A few years later, Christopher Malone got out via Community Corrections placement, then got parole, then completed his parole, and is now a fully reintegrated, responsible, tax-paying citizen of Colorado. A few years after that, Morrell was granted parole. He worked to get himself established, developed trust with his parole officer, and in August of 2022, obtained permission to communicate with Toevs, who was still incarcerated. Morrell's idea: he and Toevs should combine their specialties and networks to form a nonprofit that would help those who were willing to earn a better opportunity at securing their release and access resources to help them succeed when they got out. Toevs agreed with one caveat: there had to be a Desistance Signaling curriculum. This was an easy concession for Morrell to grant, as he had watched Toevs create a curriculum and teach a cancer awareness class that used Signaling, resulting in a silent lap.

Desistance is the process by which one ceases to be a criminal and begins to develop a new, non-criminal, prosocial identity. Persistence is the process by which one engages in, even accelerates, activity that reinforces their criminal identity. Resistance is when a person feels bad for their criminal behavior—sometimes from genuine remorse, sometimes from just not liking the consequences—but they don't commit to Desistance. Morrell's specialty is in spotting those who signaled from the moment they came to prison that they were Desisting. Toevs' specialty is in sorting out the Persisters from the Resisters and determining what, if any, interventions will work for them at the time.

Over the years of assisting people with filling out paperwork and preparing for interviews, both Morrell and Toevs developed credibility with various organizations and entities. Dating back as far as 2010, a referral from either one of them carried significant weight in more than a few Community Corrections facilities and sober living houses. Their combined credibility became T.E.N.T.'s. Toevs used Signaling to form a diverse PIN network that actively seeks prisoners who are Signaling Desistance. Morrell helped family members navigate the system and advised them on how to best support their loved one's Desistance.

In March of 2023, Morrell formalized T.E.N.T.'s nonprofit organization status. Contemporaneously, Toevs (through Morrell) started contacting the academics whose research served as the evidence base for T.E.N.T.'s curriculum. To date, T.E.N.T. has collaborated with established figures in the field, including but not limited to Ian Elliot, Christie Visher, Shawn Bushway, Carolyn Heinrich, and Suzanne Brumby.