The Latest ‘Show Up’ Opens With A Look At Recreational Therapy In Prisons

UPROXX’s Show Up has a central ethos — “Some people refuse to wait for change, they show up and do it themselves.” That central ideology resonates deeply in the latest episode of the series, in which Between The Lines co-founder Lamont “Tory” Stapleton takes us on a deep dive into recreational therapy in U.S. prisons via a basketball program.

Stapleton — a former college ball player and now fashion designer — co-founded Between The Lines (with Darren Duncan, another former basketball player) to address the lack of positive community, recreation, and artistic expression in the U.S. prison system, starting with California’s prisons. The thrust of their program is to offer a community that delivers a “belief in oneself, the value of discipline and hard work, responsibility, accountability, how to be a team player, overcoming obstacles and adversity, dealing with wins and losses, persistence, time management, making sacrifices, and an overall respect for others,” according to the Between The Lines mantra.

That may sound like a lot, but Between The Lines takes this challenge one step at a time with coaching and games in the prisons that bring inmates together and helps them reintegrate into the world after their sentences are served, with a focus on decreasing recidivism rates with all who participate in the program. Part of that comes through the lessons learned on the court and part of that comes through the feeling of ownership that Between The Lines brings by having an in-house artist tailor each court to the men playing on it every day.

This reaches a high point with a testament from Salvador Gomez, Between The Line’s Reintergal Program Leader and former inmate, whose life was changed through being part of a team while in prison, playing some hoops, and feeling like he had a chance once he made it to the outside world again after 20 years inside. Gomez tells it simply, Between The Lines is all about “becoming better people … becoming better humans.”

To learn more about this generous program, watch the whole episode of Show Up above.