NAMPA — October may seem like an unusual month to graduate, but for 27 participants in the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) and GEO Reentry Services’ Nampa-Caldwell Connection and Intervention Station (CIS), their caps and gowns were no Halloween costume.
The monthslong program, designed to reduce recidivism among the previously incarcerated, sees more than 2,000 probationers and parolees each year statewide. With stations in all seven of Idaho’s judicial districts, it involves cognitive behavioral interventions, employment training and establishing community connections to break the cycles of addiction and criminal activity.
The Nampa-Caldwell CIS opened in 2021. A 2022 GEO program outcome report estimated that participation lowered offenders’ risk assessment scores by 36% in Idaho, correlated with a similar reduction of the likelihood of reoffending.
“You guys have put in the time, the effort and been honest, and I always ask those three things of everybody that comes through our program. I hope that you can look at your loved ones and say that you’ve made honest changes in your life,” program manager Socorro White told the fall 2024 graduates at Wednesday’s ceremony, held at the Idaho Hispanic Community Center. “To reach that finish line, you guys are working on long-term sobriety. You’re working on getting full-time employment.”
Graduate Robert Gold, in a commencement address, told his classmates and their families and friends about his journey to sobriety and completion of the program.
He initially entered a year ago this month, and admitted that he was still taking drugs for the first couple of months, even getting caught using in the bathroom during a meeting.
“December came around, and I went to a [Narcotics Anonymous] meeting on a Friday night. I was sitting in a corner, not really paying attention,” the 29-year-old said. “It’s a candlelight meeting, the lights were off, and a guy shared a message of ‘I’ve never had to use drugs again.’ He wasn’t talking directly at me, but I knew he was talking to me.”
Four days later — Jan. 2, 2024 — Gold made the decision to get sober after 12 years and began detoxing at home. Though he was sick from withdrawal, he kept internally repeating the mantra that he never had to use drugs again.
“The guy that gave me that message that Friday night I got clean — I asked him to be my sponsor, and he’s been my sponsor to this day,” Gold said. “About five months in, I ended up being a GSR [Group Service Representative] for my own group in NA, which I still do today.”
After the speeches, GEO staff presented certificates to all the graduates, personally acknowledging each of their accomplishments throughout the program’s duration, such as being “always the class clown” or “practicing patience and humor in the face of adversity.” Then, there was a chili dinner to celebrate.
Amber Hinshaw, whose husband Travis Mundell was one of the graduates, spoke positively of what GEO meant for her family.
“They definitely 100% care about all of these individuals. They would give you a million chances if you knew in your heart you wanted it,” she said. “It was really annoying at first, ‘cause he had to be there every night at a certain time, and we have a lot of kids, but he was coming home excited and talking about what he got to dig deep into.”
For Gold, the best part of reclaiming his life is being able to play sports again and be a father to his daughter.
“I invited her to my softball game, and warned her that I get a little competitive,” he said. “She replied, ‘so do I.’ That’s my girl.”
