Licensed professional counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists, clinically certified forensics counselors, and educational specialists, Penny and Morgan as Co-Directors, founded the Center for Therapeutic Justice (CFTJ) in 1999. They develop and supervise Community Model programs in institutions, in drug courts, and at probation agencies and are considered the national authorities on social model programs in correctional settings.

CFTJ is the sole source for Community Model in Correctionssm approach. With decades of experience in addictions and the Criminal Justice System (CJS); treating the CJS with a systems approach, they have developed addictions, anger management, and stop the violence program materials and provided groups, briefings, workshops, and conferences for correctional officers, law enforcement, drug courts, probation/parole officers, substance abuse counselors, lawyers and judges, incarcerated men and women, families of those serving time, victims, and community agencies. Earlier, Morgan was the clinical director at Williamsburg Place, a treatment center for both the general public and impaired professionals.

Penny was the family therapist at Williamsburg Place and developed an intensive 3 day program for families. Penny directed the “Inner Reflections for Women” intensive addictions program in the Newport News, Virginia city jail and then became the coordinator of “Project Link”, a program for addicted mothers. As clinical supervisor of mental health and substance abuse services at a regional jail in Virginia, Morgan founded and directed the RISE (Recovery In a Secure Environment) program with Penny as the Program Consultant. Per capita RISE was among the largest jail substance abuse programs in the country with 252 inmates in eight programs.

For several years, Morgan and Penny hosted “Recovery Radio” out of Richmond, Virginia – a talk show with prominent national guests discussing addictions and the criminal justice system and continue to be regular guests on local and national talk shows while advocating the Community Model in Correctionssm approach with national, state, and local policymakers and citizens. They have authored two cover stories in AMERICAN JAILS magazine and wrote an extensive book review about the war on drugs for the same magazine in late 2006.

CFTJ work in corrections was featured in the Summer 2005 INSIGHTS from Open, Inc., a provider of addictions and reentry program materials, in a 2003 CORRECTIONAL HEALTHCARE REPORT, and in a 2006 CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY report on the CJS. CFTJ has been featured and referenced in numerous books. Additionally, CFTJ sponsors and coordinates national retreats and summits that bring leaders, thinkers, ex-offenders, and authors together to co-create community solutions in the CJS. The goal of CFTJ is to change the culture of incarceration and reentry in America.

Morgan and Penny promote correctional addictions programming with an emphasis on self-help, mutual and social model recovery. Excellent and supportive research on social model recovery outside of the CJS exists and has been well documented. Research is underway on CFTJ Community Model in Correctionssm, and data is being analyzed along with much observational and anecdotal information that has been gathered through various and numerous sources. Independently the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services has begun the process of a longitudinal study of recidivism for those completing a CM program. In its third year, this study has shown excellent outcomes with a substantial reduction in recidivism among those who have successfully completed the program.