Criminon New Life DC is a secular non-profit service provider incorporated in Washington, DC and is tax-exempt under federal and DC law.
Criminon New Life DC delivers the Criminon Program, a unique evidence-based program providing individuals with real-world skills they can use to improve their decision-making and reverse negative life habits. Students graduate in a condition to be able to successfully navigate their reentry into their families and communities. They are also better able to take advantage of other reentry services such as finding housing and employment.
Criminon New Life DC has been providing its rehabilitative services for the Washington DC Department of Corrections since 2003. Prior to that, it delivered courses in Washington DC’s Lorton prison for over six years.
teaching a class at DC Jail.
Our Aims
Criminon’s rehabilitation services produce transformational cognitive changes for program participants. As a result, our services are accepted as an indispensable part of pre- and post-incarceration programming by governments and community organizations. Criminon aims to restore to each human being a sense of Self-Respect, Dignity, Trustworthiness, and Honor.
The goals of all Criminon services are to help the individual to:
- Stop the ever-increasing rate of recidivism
- Restore their sense of Self-Respect, Dignity, Trustworthiness and Honor
- Obtain better survival abilities and skills
- Become happier, more successful, responsible and ethical productive citizens
It is by achieving these goals that we can reach our aim to help stop the ever-increasing rate of incarceration and break the cycle of recidivism.
Classes Currently Delivered at DC DOC Detention Facilities
The full Criminon curriculum includes eight courses. At DC Jail we are currently teaching the following four classes in rotation.
The Scope of Our Work
We assist criminal justice officials through effective strategies and training programs that help them create a more rehabilitative environment.
Criminon New Life DC has delivered many rehabilitation classes and services to the Washington, DC Department of Corrections since 2003. Prior to that that we delivered classes in the maximum security section of the federal prison located in Lorton, VA for over six years. (The Lorton prison has since closed).
We have delivered weekly rehabilitation classes for the general male inmate population inside the Washington, DC Department of Corrections Central Detention Facility (CDF), for the re-entry inmates in the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program, and for the general juvenile and female population inside the Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF).
Additionally, we have delivered Criminon classes and services to the DC Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizen Affairs (MORCA), the Federal Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) Reentry and Sanction Center, and the US Federal Courts Probation Service Office in Washington DC.
Criminon Public Policy Advocacy
Criminon New Life DC advocates for sane reforms to our criminal justice systems. We support policies which are equitable, just, economically sustainable, and that will result in consistent individual improvements and better survival outcomes. Criminon volunteers and Board Members participate in several local justice reform coalitions.