Volunteer

Approved Volunteers

If you want to volunteer regularly, you need to become what TDCJ calls an "approved" volunteer.   These are volunteers who have completed a 4-hour state safety training class and are authorized to enter the prison unescorted during normal operating hours.

1) The first step is to fill out the information below.


Full name (as it appears on your driver's license)
Your email address
Your preferred telephone number
Your date of birth (mm/dd/yyyy)
At which prison would you like to volunteer?
Travis (men)           Lockhart (women)
Church affiliation
Mailing address (street, city, state, zip)
Emergency contact name
Emergency contact telephone number
In what capacity would you like to volunteer? (e.g. teacher, group leader, life coach, other; preferred day of week and time)
Optional comments

2)  The next step is to print, fill out, and mail to our office several documents on which we need your original signature.  Faxing or scanning and emailing is not an an option, since we need the original signed documents.

a) The doctrinal statement of The God of Hope Ministries.   We teach the fundamentals of the Christian faith, and we require that all our volunteers be unified on these core doctrines.  Please read over our doctrinal statement
b)  The liability release limits the liability of The God of Hope Ministries while you're volunteering with this ministry.   c) The volunteer guidelines clarify what you should and should not do while in prison.  Please initial each rule and sign at the bottom. d)  The TDCJ application.  You now have two ways to complete the application:
  1. (preferred) You can fill out the application online at the TDCJ website.

  2. You can print a hardcopy of the application and fill it out.  TDCJ is very particular about how this form is filled out, and they will return it if isn't filled out correctly.  For that reason, we request that you send the completed form to our office, where we can check over it over and forward it to Huntsville, TX, for you.

Please mail all your completed forms to our office at
     The God of Hope Ministries
     4220 Monterey Oaks Blvd.
     Austin, TX   78749

3)  After 3-4 weeks you should get a training approval letter from Huntsville.  This is your entry ticket to the training, which is offered periodically at the Travis State Jail in east Austin, as well as other sites around Texas.  The letter will include a list of training dates and locations.

If you don't receive your approval letter within a month of sending your documents to our office, you may check on the status of your application by emailing the TDCJ Volunteer Services Office or by calling their office at (936)437-4961.

4)  If you decide to take the training at the Travis State Jail, read the following instructions: Similar instructions apply at whatever site you take your training.

5)   After you've completed the training, you still need to contact the GoH office to let us know you've completed the training.  We'll get your name transferred to the "access list" at the prison where you'll be serving.  This may take another couple of weeks.  We'll let you know when we've completed this step.

6)  That's it.  Once we've notified you that you are on the "access list" at your chosen prison, you are authorized to enter the prison without escort at the times specified for your volunteer position.   Your approval is valid for two years, at which time you must take retraining.

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