Texas – The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has partnered with Workbay, an interactive career development platform, to launch a comprehensive reentry and workforce development platform for incarcerated individuals. This initiative aims to equip incarcerated individuals with job-ready skills, connect them with employers and support their successful transition back into the workforce.
The Workbay system was launched on three pilot locations in October 2024, and now Workbay is accessible on all tablets deployed across TDCJ’s 101 units. This digital platform offers a range of resources tailored to the needs of individuals preparing for reentry, including:
Hundreds of interactive, video-based courses: Focusing on in-demand skills from Texas employers, each completed course adds a badge to the learner’s résumé, providing tangible credentials for job placement.
Career pathway integration: Aligning with all Windham’s classroom programs, ensuring seamless skill progression and education-to-career transitions.
Thousands of career pathway videos: Offering real-world insights from industry professionals to help individuals explore careers and understand required skills.
Résumé & portfolio development: Enabling users to build multimedia résumés, document credentials, and transfer job-seeker profiles to a post-release system for continued employment support.
Employer engagement & job matching: Connecting incarcerated individuals with Fair Chance employers across Texas, providing a direct pipeline to hiring opportunities.
Reentry & soft skills training: Covering job readiness, interview preparation, financial literacy and workplace soft skills to enhance employment success.
Post-release employment support: Through Website For Work, connecting job seekers with recruiters, community services and additional training opportunities.
Workbay’s reentry support empowers incarcerated individuals to build a record of learning and work experiences accessible after release, fostering successful reintegration into the workforce. Currently, 86,679 users are active on the platform, with new registrations daily.
