Rehabilitative Justice Through Education and Employment: The Last Mile’s Scalable National Model October 23, 2025 The Last Mile is leading rehabilitative justice through scalable education and employment pathways for justice-impacted individuals. Learn how we’re building a national model. A Deep Dive with the Leaders of The Last Mile Last month, I sat down with The Last Mile’s founders, Chris Redlitz and Beverly Parenti, and our Executive Director Kevin McCracken to reflect on the journey, evolution, and the next horizon for The Last Mile (TLM).Over several days of interviews, we covered TLM’s history, our steadfast mission, and our evolving educational model in the context of a fast-approaching future—one where this program is poised to transform lives across the country. What began as a single entrepreneurship class at San Quentin State Prison in 2010 has grown into a national movement built on data, dignity, and creating real opportunity. Today, TLM is preparing to scale further than ever before, backed by technology that works, partnerships that last, and outcomes that speak for themselves. “When we started The Last Mile, we had a mission—which has never changed. It’s to provide marketable skills that result in gainful employment, because we believe that having a job is the key to successful reentry and breaking the generational cycle of incarceration.” Beverly Parenti, CoFounder of The Last Mile The State Of American Incarceration in 2025 The numbers in our justice system are staggering. The United States continues to lead the world in incarceration, with over 1.9 million people in prison at the end of 2023. Despite recent reform efforts, one in six people incarcerated in a prison is serving a life sentence—nearly 200,000 individuals. Mass incarceration continues to cost taxpayers more than $80 billion annually, with recidivism rates remaining high. Roughly two-thirds of formerly incarcerated people return to prison within five years, and more than half struggle to secure stable employment after release. There is another commonly overlooked statistic in our justice system that may be the most important of all: Over 95% of all incarcerated people will one day be coming home. That raises a fundamental question for society—who do we want them to be when they return? Whether someone comes home with purpose, skills, and support—or with deeper trauma and fewer options—is a direct reflection of what we invest in behind the walls. Changing The Way We Think About Justice And Rehabilitation As Executive Director Kevin McCracken put it, “We have to think about justice not just in terms of punishment, but in terms of reintegration. If we’re not preparing people to succeed, then we’re choosing to create cycles of harm instead of pathways to stability.”McCracken continued, outlining the shortcomings of America’s justice system as a failure of holistic care. “You can’t talk about justice without talking about mental health, community, stability. That’s why our model is not just about skills—it’s about cultivating wholeness in every incarcerated person.” Imagine a future where every person in prison has access to real education, marketable training, and support upon release. If nationalized, a program like TLM could significantly lower prison populations. It would cut recidivism to single digit rates, reduce generational trauma, and bring economic revitalization to communities receiving justice-impacted individuals. “We believe in rehabilitation. But rehabilitation must mean something. It can’t just be punitive time. It has to mean that someone gets the tools to heal, to grow, and to walk out with purpose. That means training. That means opportunity. That means support when they come home. Otherwise, we’re just warehousing people.” –Kevin McCracken, Executive Director at The Last Mile The Last Mile’s Origins: An Entrepreneurial Spark The Last Mile began with a question. What would happen if we brought real-world business education into the prison system? In 2010, tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists Chris Redlitz and Beverly Parenti launched a business and entrepreneurship incubator inside San Quentin State Prison. They saw untapped talent and ambition inside the facility and believed education—not punishment—was the key to breaking cycles of incarceration. Even from the beginning, the vision was clear. “The mission has never changed,” Beverly said. “It’s always been about teaching marketable skills that lead to gainful employment.” Chris recalled, “They came to class with notebooks ready, eager to learn. They had business plans written out and ready for our review. It was unlike anything we expected.” The entrepreneurship program proved that when people are treated with dignity and given meaningful opportunities, they rise to meet them. Now it was time to scale. Pioneering Tech Education Inside Prisons Recognizing a looming national shortage of software engineers, Chris and Beverly made a bold pivot. They transformed TLM into one of the first in-prison coding programs in the country, bringing full-scale tech labs into correctional facilities—complete with secure internet access and live remote instruction. Prior to this moment, no other organization had attempted these kinds of innovations. The results were immediate. Participants mastered in-demand skills, built real portfolios, and became eligible for remote and in-office roles in the digital economy. Over the past decade, top companies have stepped up to hire TLM graduates, including: Slack Asana Checkr Indiana Pacers Edovo NBCUniversal These partnerships reflect a growing recognition that justice-impacted individuals are valuable contributors to today’s workforce. As TLM expands, its alumni will continue to bridge the gap between untapped talent and industries in need of skilled professionals. “We saw the developer shortage coming and realized we could teach these skills inside. But to do that, we had to build the tech infrastructure ourselves. No one had ever brought a full secure lab with remote instruction into a prison before. We weren’t asking for permission—we were just making it happen.” Chris Redlitz, CoFounder of The Last Mile Rehabilitative Justice Through Education and Employment TLM’s methodology is built for scale. The program delivers a standardized, high-quality curriculum through its secure Platform-as-a-Service, a proprietary tech stack that works across multiple correctional systems. This backbone enables replication across states with different infrastructures, allowing instructors to remotely run classrooms inside prisons for the first time. In 2025, TLM operates in 16 classrooms across 7 states. We have active programs inside facilities for both men and women, from California to Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Our expansion is accelerating, with new classrooms under construction in three additional states as this is being written. To meet the evolving demands of the labor market, TLM continues to adapt and expand its offerings. In addition to coding, software development, audio/visual production, and video game programming, the organization is now developing programming for sales, entrepreneurship, project management, and skilled trades —broadening access to high-demand careers for justice-impacted individuals. The secret to TLM’s success is consistency, both in the security and quality of the services being delivered. “Every facility has the same hardware, curriculum, remote instructor capabilities, and support. We don’t scale unless we know the experience is consistent,” Chris explained. “That’s how you build trust and outcomes.” With the technological infrastructure in place, TLM’s model could easily scale to every state correctional facility in the country. Justice-impacted men and women could access skills that open doors in technology, media, skilled trades, and sales—building a fairer economy from the inside out. “We’re not trying to patch up a broken system. We’re creating an entirely new model—something that actually works. It’s scalable, it’s sustainable, and it meets people where they are. We didn’t want to build a pilot program – We are building a blueprint for the entire country.” –Chris Redlitz, CoFounder of The Last Mile Outcomes That Challenge the Status Quo TLM’s results are clear. After 15 years of programming, only 8% of TLM alumni have returned to prison for new offenses. Compare that to the national recidivism rate of over 60% within three years. That’s a 12x reduction in recidivism against the traditional incarceration model. In addition, 72% of alumni who have been out for at least six months are employed. Many are placed in career-track jobs in technology, creative fields, or business—thanks to growing support from Fair Chance Employers. Kevin noted, “Success for us means alumni are earning a living, growing, being mentors to others. It’s about creating cycles of impact.” If the TLM employment model becomes the national standard, we could redirect billions in incarceration costs toward public education, health services, and community investment. Families would reunite with a future to look forward to, instead of focusing on surviving to the next paycheck. Rehabilitative Justice as a National Blueprint Rehabilitative justice offers a roadmap for a more humane, economically viable, and safer society. It means education inside facilities, career support outside, and full recognition of a person’s ability to grow and contribute to society. “When someone walks into our classroom, we don’t ask about their past,” Beverly noted in her interview. “We ask what they want to build, and help them create a plan.” The model doesn’t end at release. TLM provides reentry support, mentorship, and employer partnerships that close the loop. Through this full-spectrum design, the vast majority of TLM’s Alumni build stable careers and become thriving community members. What would happen if systems across the country adopt rehabilitative justice as policy? Prisons would become institutions of rehabilitation and transition. Recidivism would plummet. Tax dollar expenditures would exponentially decrease. Communities would stabilize. And the U.S. could finally move away from a generation of mass incarceration. “People often think this work ends when someone is released, but that’s really when it starts. If we don’t walk with them into the next chapter—into jobs, into stability, into community—we’re just recycling the problem. What we’re doing is helping people build real lives that last beyond the gate.” Kevin McCracken, Executive Director At The Last Mile Join the Rehabilitative Justice Movement The Last Mile is leading the evolution toward rehabilitative justice through education and employment. With proven outcomes, scalable technology, and a deeply human mission, TLM stands ready to expand nationwide. We have created the blueprint for the future of rehabilitative justice—and it’s already taking root in classrooms, correctional facilities, and communities across the country. But we can’t do it alone. If you believe in second chances, in building safer communities, and in the power of education to change lives, we invite you to join us. Whether you’re an employer looking to hire justice-impacted talent, a policymaker ready to drive systems change, a philanthropist seeking meaningful impact, or someone with a story to share—there is a place for you in this movement. Now is the time to act. The next chapter of The Last Mile’s growth is being written—and you can help shape it. Have questions? Want to share your story? Interested in supporting or expanding our work?Fill out the form here to connect with TLM leadership. By Robert Roche, VP of Marketing at The Last Mile, and Messigh Perry-Garner, Social Media Marketing Coordinator at The Last Mile Want articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to The Last Mile Marker. This is a biweekly newsletter offering in-depth insights, critical updates, and inspiring stories on criminal justice reform and second chances.