DRAPER, Utah — Not long ago, Nate Workman was living a young man’s dream. He was a local quarterback just entering the college scene and eager to make his mark. But his world quickly fell apart when he began using burglaries and thefts as a means to fuel his meth abuse. During the past decade he’s been in and out of federal penitentiaries and hasn’t spent much more than a year out of prison at any given time.
After nearly 15 years of struggling with a negative lifestyle, Workman graduated the Utah State Prison’s Con-Quest substance-abuse treatment program on Thursday, June 30, capping a long effort to start a new life dedicated to his family and two children. He was accompanied by 30 peers, who likewise completed the program. A total of 73 residents graduated, but many had paroled from prison or moved out of the Con-Quest program ahead of graduation time. Some of the graduates will join the Con-Quest team as peer leaders and mentors to help fellow incoming offenders as they strive to follow the same productive path.
Through Con-Quest and similar dormitory-setting programs, the Utah Department of Corrections provides offenders an intensely structured environment where they develop pro-social skills and learn from one another in a monitored group setting. In addition to overcoming substance-abuse issues, the offenders participate in a “relay system,” where they call each other out for negative behavior as simple as failing to wipe down a sink.
Like other therapeutic communities in the prison system, Con-Quest selects offenders based on their need for substance-abuse treatment. Offenders are “mapped” for certain treatment programs when they enter prison, and those most in need of substance-abuse treatment prior to their release are prioritized.
When he came to Utah’s prison system in 2010, Workman actually wrote a letter to Con-Quest personnel, eagerly requesting that he be allowed in to the high-demand therapeutic community. He called it “a breath of fresh air” that could provide him with the resources he needed to overcome the root causes of his long struggles.
“I looked at myself, and I was just disgusted,” Workman said, adding that he finally recognized he was hurting the ones he loved the most. “I knew right then I could either just become crap, or I could change.”
“You have this heightened awareness of the small things – you’re accountable for all you do,” Workman said, adding that the 24/7 scrutiny and community life in Con-Quest varied drastically from life in the federal prison system. “I looked at [Con-Quest] an opportunity to grow. In a dormitory setting, you can’t just sit there and ‘do your own time.’ I finally had to dig down deep and deal with my issues. It’s unique. It’s about bettering you.”
As is the case with Workman, drug dependencies are often the catalyst behind various crimes that land offenders in prison – such as burglaries, thefts and forgeries. Among the nearly 7,000 inmates in Utah’s prison system, the vast majority – as much as 80 percent of the population – have struggled with some significant substance-abuse trial. Only about 4 percent are imprisoned due to drug possession crimes.
The Con-Quest program began as a therapeutic community for males housed at the prison’s Draper site in 2000 and originally housed 144 residents. In March 2005, the program moved to the Promontory facility and expanded to 400 residents. The Department of Corrections also runs two other therapeutic communities targeting substance abuse issues – HOPE for male inmates at Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, and Ex-Cell for female inmates in Draper. Ex-Cell graduated 22 women on June 29, and a not-yet-determined number of men will complete HOPE on July 21. Each program takes an offender an average of 18 months of focused effort to complete.
As for Workman – he finished in just over a year. With one year left before he paroles from prison, Workman said he has more confidence. He likes himself better. He has more fun. And he’s anxious to show his mother and grandmother by his actions that he stands for something positive.
Asked if he had a message for others struggling with substance abuse and self-confidence, Workman said: “Everybody has stuff. It’s what you make of it that counts. But you can do it. Change is possible.”
Photos:
First: Con-Quest residents stand and recite their core beliefs in unison at the outset of the graduation ceremony.
Second: The Con-Quest band performs the first of two songs during the ceremony. It was an original piece written about calling home from prison.
Third: Nate Workman receives his Con-Quest completion diploma from former graduates who have since become mentors in the program.
Above: Con-Quest Program Director Dona Kendall addresses the graduates, stressing the importance of sticking to what they learned in the substance-abuse treatment program and noting that she "never wants to see them again."
News Coverage of Con-Quest Graduation:
