By C1 Staff
AMARILLO, Texas — The success of a recidivism-reducing program in Texas is being credited to one of its members – who is both a victim of crime and a former offender.
Tac Buchanan’s life was turned upside down the night a drifter named Tony Roach broke into the apartment Buchanan shared with his fiancée, Ronnie Dawn Hewitt, according to The Amarillo. Roach strangled Hewitt, sexually assaulted her after she was dead and set the apartment on fire to cover his tracks.
Roach later confessed and was convicted of the crime.
Buchanan became obsessed with finding Roach, he got himself arrested and put in prison, hoping to find his fiancée’s murderer. He never did, and when he was released Buchanan focused on changing the lives of others who were incarcerated.
Roach was executed in 2007. Buchanan attended the execution, but had never previously reached out to Roach. Unknown to Buchanan, Roach had found God and changed his life. He mouthed a request for forgiveness through the execution room’s thick, soundproof glass.
“I knew I had found forgiveness and I was walking a good path,” Buchanan said. “But I didn’t know him.” Still, Buchanan found it in himself to forgive Roach.
“And that’s when I knew that it had come full circle.”
Buchanan backs Bridge to Life’s particular program as it brings victims of violent crimes into prisons to share their experiences with offenders.
“We bring them in and we help build empathy,” Buchanan said. “Like I was saying, before I got saved it was all about me. If I felt bad, I’d go out and get high. If I didn’t feel like dealing with reality, I’d just stay drunk… It was very selfish.”
He hopes that through learning the victims’ stories, the offenders will realize the pain they’ve caused and commit to a better path in life.
Offenders who complete BTL’s 14-week program re-offend at a rate about 50 percent lower than the national average. And only 2 percent of those are violent crimes.
Buchanan was awarded the Governor’s Criminal Justice Volunteer Service Award for Restorative Justice, one of 21 categories of awards handed out every year in Texas.