You Can Help Make Families Whole Again
Dear Friend of TDS,
For an incarcerated person, their parole review is so much more than a date on the calendar. It elicits stress, excitement, nervousness, and many more emotions, because it means there’s a possibility of going home. A chance to reunite with children who’ve grown up without them. A chance to hold their parent’s hand again, or return to a community that never stopped believing in them.
But release on parole is very difficult to win alone. Most people preparing for their review don’t have an attorney by their side to help them show the parole board who they’ve become and why they deserve a second chance.
That’s where Texas Defender Service comes in.
Through our Pro Bono Parole Program, TDS helps people get that second chance. These are people who have spent years transforming their lives, earning degrees, mentoring others inside, and demonstrating they are ready to come home and contribute. People like Christopher, a father of four who had been incarcerated for 34 years. After TDS advocated on his behalf, Christopher was granted parole just in time to celebrate Christmas with his family and walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.
Stories like Christopher’s are exactly why this work matters. Four out of five men and women in Texas prisons are parents—and half a million Texas children have experienced growing up with a parent behind bars.
But this work can’t happen without the support of people who care. Will you advocate for people like Christopher by making a gift today?
Behind every person coming home is a family made whole again. Thank you for making second chances possible.
With gratitude,
Burke Butler
Co-Executive Director
Texas Defender Service
