The Buena Vida Podcast
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Formerly known as the ERS Walk & Talk Podcast, the Buena Vida Podcast is brought to you by the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS). This podcast is designed to support state employees and employees of higher education institutions who receive benefits through our program.
In each episode, we explore topics that promote well-being, health, and balance, featuring expert guests, insightful discussions, and practical tips for living a healthier, happier life. From mindfulness and stress management to fitness, nutrition, and overall wellness, we’ve got you covered!
Our podcast library also includes all previous episodes from the ERS Walk & Talk Podcast (dating back to 2021), so you can catch up on all the great content while enjoying the fresh direction of Buena Vida — the good life.
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The Buena Vida Podcast
Michael Bates: Health, Leadership & Second Chances
Michael Bates' journey from correctional officer to Deputy Director of Rehabilitation and Reentry at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice reveals what true transformation looks like, both personally and systemically.
When Bates began his career in 2008, he saw TDCJ primarily through the lens of security and public safety. Today, he champions a more holistic vision: one where rehabilitation, dignity, and second chances stand alongside those crucial safety measures. His rapid rise through the ranks—becoming assistant warden at just 30 years old—taught him valuable lessons about leadership, humility, and the importance of experience.
What makes this conversation particularly powerful is Bates' candor about his own shortcomings. He shares how his younger self lacked empathy for staff with family responsibilities, and how becoming a parent himself transformed his understanding of work-life balance. This personal growth mirrors the evolution he's helping lead throughout TDCJ, where innovative programs are changing lives daily.
The Bartlett Innovation Unit stands as perhaps the most visible example of this new approach. Here, incarcerated individuals care for animals, receive vocational training, and participate in moving "bell ceremonies" when someone completes their sentence. Dressed in donated suits with jobs often already secured, these individuals ring a bell symbolizing their transition to freedom while the entire facility cheers them on.
Bates also speaks truthfully about the mental and physical toll correctional work takes. His personal health journey—giving up Dr Pepper, meal prepping, and exercising despite grueling schedules—offers practical wisdom for anyone in demanding professions. His definition of "the good life" as achieving meaningful work-life balance resonates far beyond prison walls.
Whether you work in corrections, public service, or simply care about how our justice system might better serve both public safety and human dignity, this conversation offers hope that through dedicated leadership and innovative approaches, transformation is possible—one person, one program, one bell ceremony at a time.
If you are interested in donating a suit to the Bartlett Innovation Unit, please send to: 1018 Arnold Drive, Bartlett, Texas 76511. Attention: JessieMajors
The majority of them have jobs lined up and they walk out in these suits and they're looking great and they get to ring a bell as a symbol of that closure of one chapter in their life and into the next. And it's amazing, it's powerful. Everybody is there to support this individual taking that next step and they all see that, as they continue their journey in incarceration, that that's where they're headed. They're headed to that bell ceremony. They're going to get out and they're going to be a productive part of society. I think it was about the time that I was an assistant warden. I looked at myself in the mirror and I didn't like what I saw. I was what I considered overweight, my blood pressure was terrible and I was eating horribly. It is something that takes time. It is not an immediate response. You don't see it immediately, but the benefits are there and it's hard. It truly is. I know there are people out there listening. They're going to say I'm working mandatory overtime, I'm working 14-hour shifts, I'm working six days a week. I understand it is hard.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone and welcome to the Buena Vida podcast, where we explore what it means to live the good life in public service. I'm your host, lacey Wolfe, and today's episode is one I feel especially grateful to share with you. My guest today is Michael Bates, deputy Director of the Rehabilitation and Reentry Division at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He is a leader that not only understands the complexities of our justice system, but is also constantly working on himself, which makes this conversation incredibly powerful. In our discussion, he walks us through his journey from correctional officer to warden to his current role. He talks candidly about leadership, humility and the hard earned lessons that shaped him not just as a professional but as a person. He also shares the amazing work being done across TDCJ to support rehabilitation and reentry, from helping people earn trade certifications and secure employment before release to the moving bell ceremonies at the Bartlett Innovation Unit that honor individuals stepping into a new chapter of their lives.
Speaker 2:This episode helped me to see a different side of TDCJ, one focused on healing, purpose and second chances, and I think it's a great reminder that people can grow, systems can evolve and leadership is often most powerful when it comes from a place of self-awareness and compassion. So grab a cup of coffee, or put on your walking shoes and join me for this inspiring conversation with Michael Bates. Here we go. Michael Bates, thank you so much for driving to Austin from Huntsville and for being a guest on the Buena Vida podcast. It's really good to sit down and have a conversation with you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I appreciate the invitation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wanted to start out just by having you explain to our listeners your journey from correctional officer to warden to now serving as a deputy director. You've shot up through the ranks very quickly. Can you just tell people a little bit about your journey? How did you get here?
Speaker 1:Sure. So I started with TDCJ back in 2008 and at the Ellis unit out there by Riverside, texas, and I came to Huntsville for originally to attend Sam Houston State University, and so while I was going to school during the day, I would work at night, and so I did that for a few years until I got my undergrad degree. And as I did that, as soon as I graduated I was also applying to other areas and I found some promotional opportunities within TDCJ. So I promoted a sergeant on Ellis and while I was seeking other employment I was also invested heavily in TDCJ.
Speaker 1:Because I'd been doing it for the last three years, lieutenant at the Clemens unit in Brazoria, texas, I realized that this was a career that I could really see myself getting behind and going forward with in long term, and so from there I went back to the Ellis unit as a captain and then over to Ferguson unit in Midway as a major and then all the way to the Telford unit in New Boston as assistant warden, and then from assistant warden I kind of bounced around as a couple of senior wardens to Havens in Brownwood, texas, back down to the Houston area in Rose Sharon at the CT Terrell unit and then my last senior warden assignment was at the Clemens unit where I was a lieutenant, and so one of the greatest things about this agency is there are units all over the state of Texas, and so you really have the opportunity to travel the state and see all kinds of things working for this agency, and so I really see the benefit of what we do.
Speaker 1:The mission, you know providing public safety, first and foremost, reintegrating inmates into society. Providing public safety first and foremost, reintegrating inmates into society. And then you know we're assisting victims of crime by trying to make sure that these guys and ladies are rehabilitating and changing their thought process and making sure that they're a good person in society when we release them.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. How old were you when you were promoted to warden?
Speaker 1:When I made assistant warden at the Telford unit, I was 30. Promoted to warden when I made assistant warden at the Telford unit, I was 30. And then when I went to the TR Havens unit, I was 32. And so I was pretty young and I tell everybody, you know I went really fast in promotions and there's a lot of pitfalls there. You know your age is only a number and I tell everybody that age is only a number.
Speaker 1:You know maturity, that that's something that comes with time and and I've I've seen that now but the experience is something that you really really have to weigh out. And so when I see people that are really going through ranking promotions quickly now, I always, always tell them it's great If you're ready, that's a great thing, but just be careful, because at some level you're going to be at a level to where your experience doesn't support it. And you are learning life hard lessons as you go, and it's not the little easy ones, it's not the little stumbles. Sometimes you fall hard and you have to get back up and dust yourself off, and so throughout my career I've experienced a few of those and always been able to jump back up and dust myself off and move forward but definitely learned some hard life lessons and some career lessons throughout the journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can only imagine being at that age and being responsible for an entire prison unit, and also you're supervising people much older than you, I'm guessing, so it's probably got to be somewhat challenging.
Speaker 1:Yes, ma'am, I remember being a sergeant at the Ellis unit in 2011 and here I was 22 years old and thought I knew everything, and I was supervising staff members who literally had 35, 36 years in the system that were you know about to retire, and you're telling them what to do and they're just kind of looking at you like what do you know? And so there's that level of prove yourself. There's that level of trying to make sure that you portray the confidence, but that not the arrogance. You have to understand the difference of the two, and it took me a long time to really understand that there was a balance, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, what a journey you've had. I have so much compassion and I have a really special place in my heart for our TDCJ employees really special place in my heart for our TDCJ employees. My dad was a correctional officer for many years in Stanford, texas, at the Price Daniel unit, and I think a lot of people just don't really understand the challenges with the role of a correctional officer or what it's like to be in a prison unit. Could you sort of paint a picture of what it is for our listeners that maybe don't work for TDCJ or understand what it is like in there?
Speaker 1:Absolutely First and foremost, I would say let's not watch a bunch of movies and think that we know a lot about prison, because everything is You're saying.
Speaker 2:It's not like Orange is the New Black.
Speaker 1:I would have to go. No, you know, of course TV is going to sensationalize everything. There are some truths, but for the most part you look at it and just laugh and say that's nowhere near what it is. The first thing that I would say is it's a city on a schedule. And so you have, you know, some of these larger facilities, two to three thousand incarcerated individuals. You'll have three or four hundred staff members on duty at any given time, whether that's security staff, medical staff, support staff, administrative staff, and so everybody has a job to do. Everybody has a mission, and when you really kind of sit back and look at it, it's very, very impressive. It's super busy. You know, dawn to dusk is an easy one, but even extends beyond that. We have janitors out cleaning, you have certificate, and then you have people that are working in our laundry, support, our food service departments, our maintenance departments, and so you have staff and inmates that are essentially working hand in hand to accomplish a mission. And so it's very impressive. And it'll almost take you back when you really start to peel back the layers at just how hard everybody works to achieve the mission and how well it works on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:You know it's so easy to talk about failures. We always talk, and there was kind of an inside joke I would tell my staff members is you know how many flights take place in and out of the Houston airports every day? And everybody would just kind of throw your hands up and nobody talks about the flights that took off from an airport and landed at another airport. Well, but everybody knows about an incident that occurs with an airport or an airplane because it affects everybody, right, and so nobody talks about prisons that run well every day of the year, but that time that we have an incident, everybody wants to talk about it. So I try to tell staff don't dwell on the negativity. You know we're going to stumble and fall every once in a while, but really really focus on the fact that we are providing public safety, we are doing a great job every day and we're achieving the mission every day, and so we can't let sometimes the stumbles and the failures really define us. We have to learn from them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, and I think a lot of folks. It's sort of out of sight, out of mind, something that people don't really pay attention to on a regular day-to-day basis. So can you talk a little bit about what made you want to get into this line of work? It's obviously very mentally and physically challenging. What keeps you going day-to-day?
Speaker 1:Sure, when I started, when I came to Huntsville and was going to Sam Houston, I was getting my degree in business and I was thinking that I wanted to be a DPS trooper. I've always, as a kid, always wanted to be some sort of law enforcement. I always saw the greater good in, you know, protecting the public safety and all of those things that we think about when we're growing up. And when I graduated and I started applying to DPS and I also started looking at promotional opportunities within while I was waiting for the application process, I noticed that I didn't see the entire agency. When I was a correctional officer, I saw it as a stepping stone to something else.
Speaker 1:And then, as I started promoting while I was doing these application processes, I saw something different. I saw that we were providing public safety, we were changing lives, we were touching thousands of people and I didn't necessarily have to be a DPS trooper. And so I didn't get in on the first application round for DPS and I really think that that was probably a really good sign for me that TDCJ was going to be a future career. So it was kind of a blessing in disguise. At the time I didn't quite understand, and then, looking back on it now, throughout my my amazing career that I've had so far, that it's just been a true blessing, and so I've really got to enjoy what we do as an agency and and the people that really make this agency run every day, the unsung heroes that are there every single day, from our correctional officers to our administrative support staff, just to everybody out there that are doing these jobs and not being seen.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well, the jobs are certainly demanding. Scene Absolutely Well, the jobs are certainly demanding. And to your point coming back and really recognizing why and how TDCJ functions on a larger scale, that can help to keep you going. From talking to you and knowing people who have worked with you over the years, I understand that you have gone through some personal transformation. I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about that and what sparked change in you as a leader.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow. I hope that someone out there listening to this can remember me from 2012, 2013, 2012, 2013,. And I can apologize to them. And so when I talk about about a level of confidence, versus being arrogant and being young and trying to supervise all of these people and portray this persona that may not be true and accurate, I look back at my time as a lieutenant at the Clemens unit in Brazoria, and at the time I was married. Me and my wife had recently been married. We just promoted a lieutenant, we moved from Huntsville to Brazoria, and so we're living there and I'm working at the Clemens unit and they immediately put me on first shift, which is anybody that would like to know about prison.
Speaker 1:First shift is usually one of the busiest shifts. It's when all of the things of the day are happening education, a lot of movement throughout the day so it's extremely busy, it's extremely taxing, and I was a very young minded person and I didn't have a lot of understanding about life and at the time we didn't have any kids, and so I had a lot of single parents that worked for me and I didn't treat them the way they should have been treated. They were doing everything they could to provide for their family, and all I saw was a number or a name on a piece of paper that could achieve the mission that day. And so I remember, day after day, people would call in and say, hey, I'm not going to be able to make it to work today, my child's sick, or we'd be at work in a daycare or school would call and say, hey, we need to talk to this person, they need to come pick up their child. And I almost had no understanding. I take that back. I had no understanding and I was almost rude to these people for trying to take care of their family. Why can't you be at work? Why can't we do this? You're always leaving. You're always having these problems.
Speaker 1:Fast forward three or four or five or six years and now I have two kids and me and my wife both work full-time jobs.
Speaker 1:Kids and me and my wife both work full-time jobs, and I see that it's it's hard. It's hard in nowadays time to provide for your family, to keep them healthy and keep them where they need to be at, and and dedicate the time that you need to dedicate to work. And so I look back and I just I wish I could go back and beat myself up and just kind of slap some sense into me. So I hope that those people there that I didn't negatively impact them too much. I always thought that I was doing the right thing, and so I really think that my life now is about learning and getting better. Every day I'm not there. I'm continually working on myself every day. It's been a marked journey for Michael Bates, and I hope that people around me can say the same thing, and I know that I have faults, and so I work on those and will continue to work on those for probably the rest of my life.
Speaker 2:So you're a human.
Speaker 1:I guess I try to be, not be the robot.
Speaker 2:Well, everybody I think all of us, if we look back over our life, have things that we regret as far as leadership and, to your point, being so young in that position was probably a huge impact, I think, for me as a mom. I was one of those people that I didn't understand having kids until I had them and I would be on an airplane before kids like these screaming kids. And now I want to help people on the airplane because I have been the person with those screaming kids and it's not easy. So time, experience, all of those things certainly do change us and help support leadership along the way.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So in your current role you are the Director of Rehabilitation and Reentry Division and that sounds really important. It's a major part of the mission of TDCJ. Can you tell people just a little bit about what all does that mean? Rehabilitation and reentry?
Speaker 1:Sure, I guess I would like to start out with. I think when you start and you hear the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the number one thing that stands out to you is prison. Oh, that's all we do is prison, right, and I even have to admit, as being a correctional officer and coming up through the correctional ranks, that prison and security was what we knew, that's what we do, we provide public safety and that's what Texas Department of Criminal Justice stands for. But there's so many things that this agency does, that really kind of work behind the scenes, that do not get that publicity. And so, yes, the Rehabilitation Reentry Division.
Speaker 1:When this opportunity came about, it was so far in left field that I was just. I had an opportunity, I saw it and I knew that I didn't have very much experience with this level of programmatic activity, with the re-entry, the releasing side, the aspect of it, and so I jumped at it. Here I am a whole whopping five, six months into this position and it's just opened up a level of, it's drawn the curtains back and it's shown me so much that we do that I really didn't understand and I'm just now learning, and so I still tell everybody it's like drinking from five fire hydrants. Right now we do so much in rehabilitation reentry division. It's amazing Monitoring the parole voted programs, making sure inmates get to their program on time, making sure that they can successfully complete it and they can suffice their parole vote so they can be released and become a positive citizen in the state of Texas. Again, we have the reentry aspect of it to where we have case managers that are working hand in hand with our incarcerated individuals, making sure that they have the appropriate documentation you know, getting birth certificates, getting social security cards, getting their picture ID cards so when they get out they can immediately start seeking jobs.
Speaker 1:And then, when you go on top of that, you look at Mr Collier's 2030 plan with trying to get people employed before they're released, we are really making a push for our employment of these guys and ladies before they leave, and so we have an entire section of employment coordinators that are really trying to foster that growth with employers and our incarcerated individuals, putting the skilled labor in front of the appropriate employers and having that job lined up as soon as they walk out of the gates. They can immediately have a legitimate means of income and can start supporting themselves, because it's difficult out here. I mean, it really is at any level. If you're trying to support a family on a minimum wage, you're working two, three, four, five jobs and as much overtime as you can, and how sustainable is that right? So we're doing vocational technologies, welding and culinary arts, and renewable energies. Those are jobs that can provide a very good level of income for these individuals that are releasing, and so why not exploit that?
Speaker 2:That's fantastic and I think, when we look at really the mission of TDCJ is to rehabilitate and help people with that re-entry into society, so that you come back and are a functioning member of society and we reduce crime rates. And, like you said, it's all about public safety. Tell me about the Bartlett Innovation Unit. I have heard some great stories about what is going on at the Bartlett Innovation Unit.
Speaker 1:Sure, I hope that I can do it justice right. I've been on quite a few facilities and been assigned to quite a few facilities and bigger, larger facilities that usually have some of the behavioral issues, and so that's a lot of my experience with prison. My first day walking onto the Bartlett Innovation Unit was, as my position now, the Deputy Director of Rehabilitation Reentry Division and I walk in. It's a normal, everyday looking facility. When you walk through the front doors and you're in the admin area you're talking to people and everybody just has an upbeat attitude. And then you walk through the secured area, the secured sally port, onto the actual sidewalk and you're met by goats and chickens and ducks and many horses and donkeys and rabbits and you're seeing staff interact with incarcerated inmates and treating them like humans, like they need to be right, and it's just inspiring.
Speaker 1:There are programs that we're running in tangent with chaplains and volunteer services division. You have Wyndham School District out there. You have a very heavy presence of the rehabilitation reentry Division out there. There's a large population of veterans that are on the Bartlett unit and so you have a color guard and an honor guard standing outside presenting colors in the morning. It is just, it's an amazing thing to see.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. Actually, somebody sent me some pictures from one of the graduations that were. I mean, it'll bring tears to your eyes to see the picture and I'll try to explain. It was several of the inmates together praying before they were sending somebody out the gate to freedom. Can you share? Like, what is that process, that graduation process, look like and talk about how? I think one of the other things I thought was amazing is the suits that you send everybody out in a suit.
Speaker 1:I have to give a giant shout out to Warden Lori Larson she's been doing an amazing job out there at Bartlett and all of the division directors and all of the executive leadership in TDCJ that have supported the Bartlett Innovation Unit. I know that if I could start giving shout outs to everybody, we'd be here for the next hour, but so you were referring to what I believe they call the bell ceremony, and so anybody that's on the Bartlett Unit that is leaving whether that's parole discharge or what have you they walk up front and they have a brass bell that's hanging there right on the inside of the secured facility, and all of the inmate population are invited to these bell ceremonies. And so we do. We release these guys in full suits. They look amazing, they're energized, they're ready to go, they're prepared, and so they come up there, they engage in prayer, they engage in a chant. It's all about an energy and a vibe, as I continue to hear, and so they're just pumping this person up, or these people up, to take that next step into the uncertainty, the unknown right.
Speaker 1:Most of them have been incarcerated for a while, and that next step is really a place of nerves. You know, you don't know what you're getting into. You know you hear all these horror stories about oh, it's expensive inflation tariffs. You know what am I going to do? The majority of them have jobs lined up and they walk out in these suits and they're looking great and they get to ring a bell as a symbol of that closure of one chapter in their life and into the next. And it's amazing, it's powerful. You know, it's a great thing to be out there to stand amongst the population as they're doing this and it's really a moment of support. Everybody is there to support this individual taking that next step and they all see that, as they continue their journey in incarceration, that that's where they're headed. They're headed to that bell ceremony. They're going to get out and they're going to be a productive part of society.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, it's certainly inspiring work and I can imagine very fulfilling to be a part of that process in anybody's life, and I just love that those suits are all donated from people.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and so they have a locker room that's what it's what's been coined as and when you walk in there it's like going to men's warehouse. There's suits everywhere and they you know, they have to inventory them all the time, and so I don't envy that job. But that's a good problem to have right now is we have suits, but at the end of the day, we don't have enough suits, and so we're always asking for, you know, whatever. If anybody has anything that they're willing to donate, we're absolutely willing to accept. I do find it funny I I in my neighborhood, I had a individual on our little Facebook page pop up and say hey, got some suits that I outgrew, and does anybody need them?
Speaker 1:So I sent him a message and was like hey, I would love to take these off your hands. And I gave him a video of one of these bail ceremonies and of an individual leaving in a suit and I said this is what you're supporting. And I knew that it was polarizing, right. I didn't know if somebody was going to be willing to donate it to a convicted felon, and they just absolutely were excited for the opportunity for that suit to go to a better place, and so, as soon as I pick it up, they were like this is great, this is amazing.
Speaker 1:As soon as we have more, we're going to donate, we're going to get with our church and we're going to try to find some more. And so it's great to see people supporting that, because I know it can be polarizing Do you want to donate to a felon or not and so we got to realize that these are humans. They're coming back to society. Let's make sure that it's a good reintegration. Let's make sure that they get the chance that they deserve. They've done their state signed time. Let's give them an opportunity to do a great thing.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. And is there a women's unit that is equivalent to Bartlett?
Speaker 1:Not necessarily on the innovation side, but at the O'Daniel unit we have the Strive program, where we have our ladies and they have what they call the boutique, and so it's clothing that's business professional, and they do job interviews on Zoom and they'll be wearing their business professional uniforms instead of all white uniform, and so getting them ready for release and getting them ready for integration, and so if anybody has any ladies clothes that they would like to donate, we absolutely have an area for that and just across the state, just, we release all day long, every day, and so we always need clothes.
Speaker 2:I love that. I'll get that information from you and we'll put it in the show notes If you're listening and want to donate to the cause. I think it's a wonderful thing to support that re-entry. All right, I wanted to talk a little bit about mental health with you. I know that I have seen, since I've been working in this role with TDCJ, there's been a shift in the culture and really I feel like your leadership is making a concerted effort like talking to Director Mendoza, who was on the podcast as well to support mental health of of the employees at TDCJ. What are your thoughts there? How, how is that going? What? What's happening on the mental health front to support employees?
Speaker 1:So I first have to acknowledge the fact that this job is extremely mentally taxing. It is mentally, physically, emotionally taxing, and that can be a difficult hurdle for people to as you have new staff members coming in. You have to learn these physical requirements. You have to learn these emotional requirements, these psychological requirements on how to deal with things that we see on a daily basis. And so I think that we are making really good strides and we are in the right direction. We have a lot of opportunity in front of us and kind of the stigma is getting washed away from some of that mental health aspect. You know, I would love to say that I'm great at it and that I've always been good at dealing with the stress of this job, but that's just not the case. We deal with long hours, you deal with problems all day long, whether you know they're ranging from very minute to you know whether they're ranging from very minute to the worst of the worst emergencies. I think everybody has to come up with their own coping mechanisms, and I really focus on the healthy coping mechanisms, because a lot of people refer back to a chemical dependency or use of alcohol or these things that are negative to ourselves, that are kind of just self-destructive. I really see a good push from executive leadership, ers, from just Buena Vida, I mean all of the things that we have available Hello Heart, hinge Health, all of these things that our staff members have that they may not know about, and so I encourage them to look at the websites, or our TDCJ website, to look at peak performance, to reach out and really look at all of those resources that are available. We give administrative leave to people that get a annual wellness exam with their physician, just something simple like that. You know, catch something at the beginning. Let's address high blood pressure early on. Let's address those small health things that are going to lead to bigger problems down the road, and so keep ourselves healthy, stay active.
Speaker 1:We work 8, 10, 12 hours, 14 hours, 16 hours a day. You come home and you just want to crash. You don't want to talk to anybody, you don't want to, you don't want to exercise, you don't want to do all these things, you don't want to exercise, you don't want to do all these things, and I quickly found myself a victim of that. I remember being a major at the Ferguson unit and it was a never-ending job. You would work 10, 12, 14 hours in the day. You would get home and your phone would ring. It would be people with problems on night shift. It would be unit administration asking questions about things that were done during the day, and there wasn't time to exercise, there wasn't time to meditate and do all these things, and at some level I think it was about the time that I was an assistant warden.
Speaker 1:I looked at myself in the mirror and I didn't like what I saw. I was what I considered overweight. My blood pressure was terrible and I was eating horribly, and so I made a conscious decision I gave up my biggest love of my life, dr Pepper. I started eating better, I started paying attention to what I was actually putting in my body, started exercising. I lost a pretty good amount of weight and just immediately saw the benefits of that hard work and my blood pressure dropped and I was doing better and I thought I was in a good place. And so then I went through a couple of different promotions, made it to senior warden at Clemens, and I realized that I could do better, and so I started working more on my health and so started running and started doing different things and trying to get into a better place in my health and eventually achieve that, or I say achieve that I'm still working on it, but went from a place where I probably should have been medicated on blood pressure to now I check my blood pressure and it's almost, I would say, perfect, but it's good.
Speaker 1:I really try to focus on the healthy aspect. And it's hard, it truly is. I know there are people out there listening. They're going to say I'm working mandatory overtime, I'm working 14 hour shifts, I'm working six days a week. I understand it is hard, it is a very conscious decision and it is something that takes time and it's not an immediate response. You don't see it immediately, but the benefits are there. That's long-term. I encourage people that are in the correctional field to look at some of the statistics for the comorbidities and the health problems that exist in our profession and really take strides to prevent that, because we can. We can prevent alcoholism, we can prevent obesity, we can prevent some of those things that really will increase our lifespan, because I don't want to retire and die two days later, you know, and and unfortunately we see that in our profession, and so I really want to leave this, this career, whenever I decide to leave and retire in a healthy form, in a healthy fashion, to where I can enjoy that retirement.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm wondering if you could just sort of dig into a little bit more. How did you do it? Because I think there are a lot of people out there probably that are working these long shifts and are exhausted and don't know how you talked about with your personal journey. You taught out the Dr Pepper. Was that like step one?
Speaker 1:That was probably step one, and it was a hard one. That was a hard one. I really enjoyed drinking Dr Pepper. It was a great taste, great, I loved it. But at the end of the day, there's a lot of sugar, there's a lot of carbs, there's a lot of calories and it doesn't help you any.
Speaker 2:Did you replace it with something else?
Speaker 1:Water, lots of water, yeah, but you know water can get boring, and so you kind of have to find what really works for you. I know you kind of have to find what really works for you. There's a lot of zero sugar additives out there. You've got to be careful with them, with the artificial sweeteners. Just really kind of researching and playing what works best for you, right? And so I meal prep every Sunday, now for lunches, and I know that correctional staff that's going to be one thing is like oh, I may not get a break. How do I know that I'll be here? I understand, but there's opportunities to bring your lunches. You can pack a healthy snack. Instead of eating a bag of chips, you can have some carrots. I mean there are options out there that are acceptable, that aren't terrible. I mean I'm not saying that we need to go eat Brussels sprouts every day, but hey, some air fried Brussels sprouts with a little bit of olive oil is not bad. It's not bad. Some salt and pepper, it's actually quite good, I would say so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so every week we meal prep for lunches and just trying to focus on what we intake. Right, Don't get me wrong. I love some ice cream. I grew up in Burnham, Texas, home of Blue Bell. I absolutely love some Blue Bell ice cream.
Speaker 2:Who doesn't?
Speaker 1:But just in moderation.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely Well, and I love how you said it's been a journey. It's not a one and done ever with our health. It's a lifelong practice and we're going to certainly have ups and downs and all kinds of twists and turns along the way. So good, amazing that you've been able to do that, and really it is wonderful to see a leader like you in the position you're in, because you can have that influence and hopefully help support other people that may want to make those changes in their life.
Speaker 2:Thank you for mentioning as well the programs that we have available through the health plan. I'm really proud of ERS for providing benefits like this, especially virtual benefits like the Learn to Live Mental Health Program or Hello, heart Hinge Health. These are things that you can access at any time of day from anywhere in the state of Texas. So and we keep in mind your employees when we are making those decisions that because I think there are a lot of folks out there in rural areas or the work shift work that might not have access, and so we love that y'all are getting that information out to the employees, right? I? I always like to close out our podcast with the same question for every guest, and we've talked about our program is Buena Vida, which means good life, and I'm curious if you could share with our listeners what is a good life for you.
Speaker 1:A good life. I would say that we're going to say something with a healthy work-life balance and that one's hard. That one took me a long time and I am still working on that to this day. You probably could ask my family and I could do better, but I've come a long ways from where I was working six days a week, 14 hours a day, and so we have to get our job done.
Speaker 1:Our agency has a mission so important that we have to make sure that it gets done and so that can affect work-life balance. We know that there's going to be emergencies where we don't get the opportunity to go home that afternoon or on time or something of that nature. But we really have to focus on that work-life balance and be present when we have the opportunity to be present with our families or with your hobbies or with yourself or whatever that is for you. And so I really have focused on when I'm at home. I'm at home and doing everything I can to support my kids and be there for their functions and be there for my wife and whatever we can there and enjoy hobbies, the hunting, the fishing, the being away from work, giving everything that you have to do better and to make sure that we're in a better place when we leave this agency in 10, 20, 30 years than it is right now.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely Well, michael, it's been wonderful to talk to you. I have sort of gotten to know you through various meetings and events at TDCJ and I've always just heard such great things about you as a leader and a person. So I really appreciate you coming in and taking some time out to talk to all of our listeners and share some of your great experience and information about what amazing work y'all are doing at TDCJ. Absolutely, I again I appreciate the invitation.
Speaker 1:This was this was an amazing part. It just, you know, I'm I'm always at all in my career appreciate the invitation. This was this was an amazing part. It just you know, I'm I'm always at all in my career of the opportunities that I get, and this is one of them. I would have never thought that to me, I'm, I'm just Michael Bates, and that's the best that I can be. I continue to to try to do better every day, but the things that that you and this and ERS is doing, lacey, are amazing and we appreciate that to no end, and so thank you very much for what you do every day and look forward to continuing working with you Absolutely.
Speaker 2:All right, that's a wrap on this episode of the Buena Vida podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. I want to thank Michael Bates for sharing not only his professional insights but also his heart. His honesty about leadership, growth and personal transformation certainly left me inspired and I hope it did the same for you. If you'd like to support some of the amazing work that was mentioned in today's episode, like donating clothing or learning more about the Bell Ceremonies, I have included links in the show notes. Thank you so much again for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to follow the Buena Vida podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and share it with someone that might use a little inspiration today. Until next time, keep showing up, keep growing and keep building your own version of the Buena Vida. Have a great day and take care everyone.