Reformed Criminal Entrepreneurs, Follow Up

As we noted in this earlier post, this program had been hailed for its innovative approach, but, as this story from the Austin Statesman reports, it may now fall due to one of the most common of grassroots program failures—the sudden departure of the founding leadership—and that is always a tragedy.

An excerpt.

“The founder of the nationally acclaimed Prison Entrepreneurship Program has abruptly resigned after she was banned from entering state prisons for having improper relationships with four ex-convicts who graduated from her program.

“In a letter to supporters, Catherine Rohr, 32, who founded the Houston-based program five years ago, acknowledged that "mistakes in my personal life involved inappropriately close relationships with four free men who were also PEP graduates."

“Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said Thursday that Rohr was banned last week from prisons and from work with parolees after investigators confirmed she had "engaged in inappropriate behavior."

"Our policies are clear: Volunteers cannot have personal or intimate relationships with current or former offenders," Lyons said.

“Prison officials said they are investigating whether Rohr had inappropriate relationships with any convicts still in prison or any still on parole. They said she acknowledged only two improper relationships to investigators in an interview two weeks ago.

“Rohr, a former Wall Street venture capitalist, had been widely credited with training felons in how to start businesses and become successful once they left prison.”