TJJD News & Announcements

GIDDINGS, Texas – On July 22, Giddings State School welcomed the Bill Glass Ministry team with the Behind the Walls event. The ministry event consisted of Behind the Walls team members who won the youth over with their inspiring life stories and extra special props. Speakers included a football player who is currently in the running to be a walk-on for the Green Bay Packers showing amazing strength and a racecar from the film Talladega Night s. Students saw the Talladega Nights racecar perform "burnouts" in front of the gym. The ministry team shared their stories of overcoming adversity through their own personal stories of struggle and finding faith. Their personal stories inspired both youth and staff alike and provided a beacon of hope and optimism for the future of our youth.

Bill Glass Ministries, “Behind the Walls,” held a Day of Champions on July 15, 2017, at 12 juvenile correction facilities in North Texas, ten county facilities and two state halfway houses – McFadden Ranch and Willoughby House. The evangelism event allowed “platform speakers” and “teammates” to address youth at the facilities with a message of hope and forgiveness. The platform speakers were especially inspiring and motivational. NASCAR Driver William Blakely and evangelist Sandy Boyd spoke at McFadden Ranch, and USC football star and current NFL free agent Dominic Miller and “I Am Second” representative Karen Green spoke at Willoughby House. The Men’s Biker Bible Study and the Women of Valor from the First General Baptist Church of Irving were the teammates at McFadden Ranch. In addition to their message, they shared a pizza lunch with all of the youth. Blakely and the Bikers roared into McFadden Ranch early Saturday morning with motors revving and burning rubber, as they put on...

Every six weeks, all TJJD education departments participate in a Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) incentive program, which addresses the youth’s individual ability to reach a set of identified expectations and behavior goals. This helps facilitate and shape behavior while building and reinforcing coping skills through targeted skill development. Overall, this offers the students directed practice, staff opportunity for modeling of pro-social skills, and positive reinforcement of targeted progress. The goal is to help youth reduce negative behavior while developing corresponding positive behaviors to build longterm, internalized changes in behavior. Below is a description of the PBIS Incentive Day held agency-wide on September 16, 2016. Gainesville: PBIS is going strong at the Gainesville State School. The last incentive was the largest yet with 68 students participating. The teachers came in early and prepared a home cooked breakfast for the students that included scra...

On Friday, July 8th, the staff of the McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility in Mart were honored for their role in helping the facility to achieve Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) compliance. The on-site portion of the PREA Audit was conducted in January 2016 and the facility received the final reports for official PREA compliance in May 2016. Not only was 100 percent compliance achieved but the campus actually exceeded standards in five areas. This was a true accomplishment because no other facility has received five "exceeds" during this entire first round of PREA audits within the agency. PREA Compliance Managers took an active role in ensuring that the staff were adequately rewarded for the dedication and hard work that was put forth towards accomplishing this goal. The PREA Staff Appreciation Carnival was a collaborative effort and sponsored through a partnership with the McLennan Police & Firemen’s Insurance Association, TJJD’s own Unity C...

Cottrell House youth honored Black History Month by celebrating all cultures and their achievements. Youth made this decision because they each recognized that they all have a culture and heritage that they are proud of and want to share. Youth worked together and agreed to prepare a meal from each of their cultures. An important part of the agreement was that everyone had to participate by cooking not only their culture’s food, but other cultures as well. Stephanie Howell, GED teacher at Cottrell House, expressed her pride in the youth for deciding to honor all culture groups. She said, “We normally have a cooking class twice a month for youth. I taught youth how to search for recipes on different internet cooking sites. We started with making cookies and then we prepared food for Thanksgiving. I was surprised when the youth decided to celebrate Black History month by cooking foods from all different cultures of the youth at Cottrell House. This was something they decided and pla...