Press Release

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Corrections technology & communications leader stands in support of national effort to enable children with incarcerated parents, facing other societal challenges, reach their full potential 

June 4, 2022 (Falls Church, VA) — As part of its continuing commitment to help facilitate successful reintegration for incarcerated individuals and their families, ViaPath Technologies’ Tony Lowden, today, addressed the kick-off luncheon for Prison Fellowship’s Opportunity Kids Collaborative in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. Created in partnership with Walmart’s Center for Racial Equity, the Opportunity Kids Collaborative is a nationwide effort, launched in November 2021, to connect children in distressed communities of color to a support network.  

“An important part of helping incarcerated individuals reintegrate back into society upon their release is family engagement. In many cases, the children who are left behind when a parent goes to prison are in dire need of critical support services,” said Tony Lowden, Vice President of Reintegration & Community Engagement at ViaPath Technologies. “Children also have to reintegrate back to their loved ones when they come home and so it takes the entire community to make this transition happen. That is why ViaPath is proud to support Prison Fellowship and the incredible work they are doing to help people in need through impactful programs like the Opportunity Kids Collaborative initiative.”   

In addition to his work at ViaPath, Mr. Lowden is also the pastor and spiritual advisor to former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. He previously served as the White House Executive Director of the Federal Interagency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry.   

ViaPath Technologies is a leading technology company, which offers cutting-edge solutions to facilitate connections, educational opportunities and successful reintegration for incarcerated individuals. One of those solutions is the company’s revolutionary Inspire Tablet, which allows them to maintain regular contact with their loved ones through video visitation and electronic messaging. It also provides educational content and job training classes to help those who are deserving of a second chance, successfully reenter their communities and into the workforce, upon completion of their sentence.   

Prison Fellowship is the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving prisoners, former prisoners and their families. The Opportunity Kids Collaborative is a network of corporate, community, and faith-based partners working in concert to provide support to children, 18 years of age and under, who face societal challenges including poverty, racism and family instability.  

Today’s event took place in the Legends Lounge at the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters Building at The Star in Frisco, TX.  

About ViaPath Technologies

ViaPath provides advanced communications and management solutions that facilitate meaningful connections, provide educational opportunities, and enable successful reintegration for 1.6 million incarcerated individuals. ViaPath is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, with an employee presence throughout North America. To learn more, please visit www.viapath.com.

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FALLS CHURCH, Va., April 6, 2022 – ViaPath Technologies, a leading global technology company that is focused on connecting people, today announced that former White House Reintegration Czar Tony Lowden has joined the company as Vice President of Reintegration & Community Engagement, effective April 4.

“I am extremely excited that Tony will be joining the ViaPath team.” said ViaPath CEO Deb Alderson, “His experiences and expertise will be invaluable as we further enhance the services we provide to justice-impacted individuals to successfully reintegrate into their communities.”

Lowden brings more than 20 years of experience on the local, state, and national levels, assisting criminal justice-involved individuals with opportunities for successful outcomes. In his role, He will provide leadership and vision for the continuous expansion of interactive reintegration services to not only prepare incarcerated youths and adults for life after release, but for them to successfully reintegrate into and remain in their communities as contributing members of society.

Lowden’s most recent position was as the Chaplain for the Secret Service in southwest Georgia, as well as the Pastor of former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. He was appointed by the White House in 2020 as the Executive Director of the Federal Interagency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry.

Prior to that, in 2012, he was appointed by Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal as the State Charter School Commissioner. He has also served as the Project Coordinator for the Justice Reinvestment Initiative and as the Director of Faith and Justice Initiative for the Governor’s Office of Transition Support and Reentry in Georgia. Having a passion for assisting at-risk youth, Lowden founded and is the former Executive Director of STONE Academy, an after-school enrichment program for at-risk children in the Macon-Bibb County, Georgia area.

About ViaPath Technologies

ViaPath provides advanced communications and management solutions that facilitate meaningful connections, provide educational opportunities, and enable successful reintegration for 1.6 million incarcerated individuals. ViaPath is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, with an employee presence throughout North America. To learn more, please visit www.viapath.com.

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Company CEO challenges others to hire some of the more than 600,000 formerly incarcerated individuals released annually

Since 2017, April has been known as “Second Chance Month.” With a hiring department committed to hiring the formerly incarcerated, ViaPath Technologies helps them re-enter society with gainful employment. Working with various partners, ViaPath provides everything from education and job training to self-help, money management, and assistance with job placement.

“With the current challenges many employers are facing in finding qualified talent across the U.S., companies need to ensure that individuals with criminal backgrounds receive the same consideration as other applicants and make concrete efforts to hire formerly incarcerated individuals,” said Deb Alderson, CEO of ViaPath Technologies.

Alderson’s personal experience with an incarcerated family member became a deep-seated passion for providing second chances for returning citizens. “Everyone deserves a second chance,” she added. “I encourage companies, corporations and organizations to join us in providing those second chances to the many deserving formerly incarcerated individuals.”

Recently, under Alderson’s direction, ViaPath Technologies launched a robust Reintegration Services program and is dedicating more than $5 million over the next two years to ensure its success. ViaPath provides tablets to incarcerated individuals that include educational curriculum, financial literacy courses, industry-accredited vocational certifications, life skills and training on everything from working in the restaurant industry to launching a new business and becoming an entrepreneur.

The company is working with partners to enhance its free education and training content on its tablets, as well as job boards and an employment arm that will assist the current and formerly incarcerated in finding jobs. “We don’t just talk about second chances, we provide them,” said Alderson.

Antonio Sadler is one of the company’s second chance hires. Sadler served 10 years in a prison in South Carolina. While incarcerated, he used a ViaPath Technologies tablet and says it “immediately had a positive impact.” In addition to being able to communicate with loved ones and also gain access to online educational materials, Sadler said he was able to learn life-skills from the ViaPath tablet. Today, he is a full-time associate product manager for ViaPath.

“Antonio and our other second chance hires, including both formerly incarcerated as well as justice-impacted employees, have filled critical job openings at ViaPath,” said Jessica Artz, chief human resources officer at ViaPath Technologies. “These employees are now part of our family. They go above and beyond, and have a lot to give and teach us all.”

Artz continued, “What other companies may not realize is that there are many formerly incarcerated individuals who took the initiative to further their education and gain vocational training and job skills. Their experience often makes them more qualified than candidates that just got out of school. Companies just need to commit to hiring them.”

According to the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS), more than 600,000 individuals across the U.S. are released from state and federal prisons each year. The agency also reports that more than two-thirds of those released are likely to be re-arrested within three years due to a lack of training, reintegration skills, and employment opportunities.

With ViaPath Technologies tablets in correctional facilities across the U.S., incarcerated individuals can access the necessary training and other curricula needed in preparation for reintegration and in finding and securing employment.

“We have a great group of partners and are constantly adding more to assist us in providing a wealth of content and assistance with education, career development and other resources and a chance to connect with employers,” Alderson said. “With so many employment needs across numerous industries countrywide, we see hiring formerly incarcerated as an opportunity to bridge the gap in the current employment crisis.”

“The crisis could finally force companies who wouldn’t consider hiring formerly incarcerated before, to now take a look at them,” Alderson added. “Providing a second chance is a way to break the incarceration cycle and provide companies with an eager-to-work employment pool. At the end o the day, we’re helping to ensure that those facing reintegration have access to the tools they need to be successful.”

ABout Viapath

For over 30 years, ViaPath has worked side-by-side with correctional facilities and government agencies to provide imperative technology solutions to over 1.2 million incarcerated individuals across the globe. These solutions facilitate meaningful connections, provide educational opportunities, enable successful reintegration, and strengthen operational efficiency. ViaPath is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, with an employee presence throughout North America and was recognized as a 2021 Top Workplace USA by Energage.

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Company rededicates itself to transparency and helping formerly incarcerated individuals acquire successful training and employment 

To better reflect its mission and vision, GTL is now ViaPath Technologies. CEO Deb Alderson promised change when she took over the company. Her personal experience with an incarcerated family member became a deep-seated passion for the experience of families of the incarcerated and providing second chances for returning citizens. Under her leadership, ViaPath Technologies has launched an expanded Reintegration Services program and dedicated more than $5 million over the next two years to ensure its success.  

GTL started almost 33 years ago as a provider of secure telephone services for prisons and jails because it recognized the importance of connection between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones. As technology expanded, GTL segued into additional communication services and operational systems that were customized to the unique and complex security concerns of correctional facilities, all of which contribute to higher costs.  

Under Alderson’s leadership, GTL has worked to lower calling rates and provide free communication options, which have saved customers over $100 million. For the past year, the company has provided a baseline of free communications to all individuals using its systems across the U.S., and a continuing commitment of ViaPath Technologies will be to lower costs further so that families and support networks can stay in touch without financial worry. Complementary to its commitment to decreasing costs is ViaPath’s focus on increasing transparency, which includes evaluating policies and systems to simplify and improve clarity for consumers. 

ViaPath Technologies will continue to provide communication products for incarcerated individuals and their loved ones while also expanding its offerings, services, and programs. For example, the company introduced tablets in 2013, it expanded its free resources last year, and will add more in-depth content and curriculum in 2022. “Taking a holistic approach to reintegration programs to break the cycle of incarceration, our solutions deliver the support and resources individuals need to move forward as well as realize the potential of tomorrow,” said Alderson. “We want to deliver resources that forge a path through enrichment, education, and new opportunities.” 

According to the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS), more than 600,000 individuals across the U.S. are released from state and federal prisons each year. HHS also finds that more than two-thirds of those released are likely to be  re-arrested within three years. This is often attributed to a lack of training, reintegration skills, and employment opportunities. 

With this in mind, ViaPath has refocused its efforts on reintegration. The company is working with partners to provide more free education and training content on its tablets, as well as job boards and an employment arm that will assist in finding jobs. “We’re finalizing partnerships with multiple companies and organizations that will assist us in helping formerly incarcerated individuals connect with employers,” Alderson added. “With so many employment needs across numerous industries countrywide, we hope to be able to provide a solution to the employment crisis.” 

ViaPath Technologies is committed to delivering the products and services that set new industry standards. “The pandemic has shown all of us the need for connectivity, the importance of believing in a better tomorrow, and how technology can transform lives,” Alderson explained. “We want to make sure that individuals everywhere have the same opportunities—criminal records or not. As ViaPath, we can do so with purpose.” 

Press Release Contact
Email: media@viapath.com

ABout Viapath

For over 30 years, ViaPath has worked side-by-side with correctional facilities and government agencies to provide imperative technology solutions to over 1.2 million incarcerated individuals across the globe. These solutions facilitate meaningful connections, provide educational opportunities, enable successful reintegration, and strengthen operational efficiency. ViaPath is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, with an employee presence throughout North America and was recognized as a 2021 Top Workplace USA by Energage.

Learn More