Transformational Prison Project
Armand Coleman, Executive Director
Unlocked Futures
Transformational Prison Project (TPP), a project of Tides Center, is a system impacted led organization that addresses individual and systemic harms via Restorative Justice circle processes.
Year Founded: 2013
TPP’s programming works to end cycles of harm and improve public safety and community wellbeing. TPP’s founding work was in prisons, and while these models remain central to their work, they believe that Restorative Justice belongs everywhere. Since 2020, they have expanded to reach even more members and now utilize a 3-tiered approach to restorative change:
- Restorative Justice in Institutions
- Restorative Justice in the Community
- Restorative Justice Education & Narrative Change
The Transformational Prison Project (TPP) was founded in 2013 in MCI-Norfolk, Massachusetts’ largest prison which houses the nation’s oldest population of men serving life sentences.
The first participants found healing and transformation. As influencers in the prison system, their modeling of change encouraged others to join, as well. TPP grew from MCI-Norfolk to five more MA correctional institutions—reaching thousands of incarcerated men and women.
Now, TPP is led by four formerly incarcerated individuals who personally benefited from TPP’s programs while incarcerated.
Armand Coleman
Executive Director
