In its early beginnings, Free World Bound started off providing services to Dallas and Tarrant County jails using a grant of $150,000 from the Texas Department of State Health Services. One North Texas nonprofit has been helping former prisoners readjust as they transition back into the free world. Over the past 20 years, Prism Health North Texas, via a program called Free World Bound, has provided newly freed convicts with HIV prevention and treatment services and to medical care.
One group of former inmates faces even more challenges upon release: those who are HIV-positive. We can't say we've been there, but those scenes in The Shawshank Redemption are forever stitched into our minds. Re-entering a changed society sets up former prisoners to brace many challenges and limitations - especially if they've been institutionalized for long periods of time - such as trying to catch up to the modern era's high-tech way of life while re-entering the work force with a criminal record. Rejoining the world after spending time in prison is tough.
