For more than sixty years, working inside and outside prisons, we have observed two realities:
- Prisons manage the effects of crime, but rarely address its causes.
- The greatest resource within any prison is its inmates.
These observations led us to begin exploring what we call Root-Cause Rehabilitation.
Most prison rehabilitation programs focus on helping inmates develop the skills needed for life after prison. Root-Cause Rehabilitation explores a different question: What if rehabilitation also helped individuals face the realities that brought them to prison in the first place?
As we have explored that question, another possibility emerged: Could inmates themselves become part of the Root-Cause Rehabilitation process—serving as trained mentors, teachers, and guides for others?
Over time, this exploration has produced a growing collection of initiatives and resources, including The Kronos Briefing Book, The Kronos Project, the Kronos Novel, the Kronos Workshop, Kronos Prison Reads, and Kronos Choices, a documentary film for new inmates currently in production.
These initiatives are organized into three categories: The Kronos Project: Exploring the principles and possibilities of Root-Cause Rehabilitation. Kronos Choices: Encouraging inmates to think differently about their incarceration. Kronos Prison Reads: Short stories that explore timeless human struggles through people, events, and experiences beyond prison walls.
While these initiatives are at different stages of development, each initiative reflects what we have learned so far—and questions we continue to explore.
Perhaps some of those questions brought you here. We invite you to explore the work with us.
