A Plan to Reduce Recidivism

- Dave Koch

Lords of the Dragon

The Foundational Memorandum

Before Slaying the Dragon: The Journey from the Dungeon to the Ivory Tower was written, there was Lords of the Dragon.

Originally conceived in 2003 and continuously researched, refined, expanded, and updated over nearly two decades, Lords of the Dragon is the foundational memorandum from which the philosophy of Slaying the Dragon ultimately evolved. While Slaying the Dragon focuses on helping individuals overcome adversity through self-reinvention, Lords of the Dragon addresses the challenge from an entirely different perspective. It presents a comprehensive systems-level strategy for reducing recidivism through education, entrepreneurship, accountability, culture, and economic sustainability.

This memorandum was not written simply to discuss the problem of recidivism. It was written to propose a practical, measurable, and financially sustainable solution.

A Different Way of Thinking About Rehabilitation

For generations, governments, correctional institutions, and community organizations have invested enormous resources attempting to reduce crime and recidivism. While many dedicated professionals have made meaningful contributions, recidivism rates have remained stubbornly high.

The premise of Lords of the Dragon is that lasting rehabilitation requires more than supervision, temporary assistance, or grant-funded programs. Genuine and lasting change occurs when individuals develop the desire, discipline, life skills, education, accountability, and economic opportunity necessary to build productive and meaningful lives.

Rather than simply helping people survive after release from prison, Lords of the Dragon proposes creating an environment where individuals can learn to thrive, become employers instead of applicants, taxpayers instead of tax consumers, mentors instead of statistics, and productive contributors to their communities.

Culture Is the Missing Ingredient

One of the memorandum's central themes is that culture influences human behavior more powerfully than rules alone.

Throughout history, successful organizations have inspired extraordinary loyalty because they created a culture that people genuinely wanted to join.

Lords of the Dragon applies that same principle to rehabilitation.

Rather than focusing exclusively on punishment or temporary assistance, it proposes creating a culture built upon personal responsibility, education, entrepreneurship, accountability, integrity, perseverance, recognition, and mutual support.

The Dragon serves as a metaphor for the obstacles every person encounters throughout life. Whether those Dragons take the form of incarceration, financial hardship, addiction, failure, illness, unemployment, broken relationships, or countless other adversities, the underlying philosophy remains the same:

Every worthwhile life requires learning to confront and overcome Dragons.

A Comprehensive Entrepreneurial Model

At the heart of the memorandum is an innovative proposal to establish a network of entrepreneurial business incubators specifically designed to identify, train, mentor, and support individuals who demonstrate the ability, discipline, and determination to build successful businesses.

Participants would receive structured preparation before release, comprehensive life-skills training, goal setting, educational support, business planning, interview preparation, community reintegration assistance, and ongoing mentorship.

Entrepreneurial enterprises developed within the incubator environment would, in turn, create additional employment opportunities for other formerly incarcerated individuals while generating the financial resources necessary to support and expand the mission.

The long-term objective is a self-funding, self-sustaining organization that continually reinvests its success into creating additional opportunities for others.

From Memorandum to Book

Although originally developed as a strategic proposal for policymakers, business leaders, correctional professionals, educators, community organizations, and investors, the ideas contained within Lords of the Dragon gradually evolved into something much larger.

While speaking in correctional institutions and working with individuals preparing for community reentry, it became apparent that many of the principles contained within the memorandum also applied to people facing entirely different forms of adversity.

• Bankruptcy.

• Career loss.

• Business failure.

• Divorce.

• Financial hardship.

• Illness.

• Addiction.

• Personal tragedy.

The realization that every individual must eventually confront personal Dragons led to the publication of Slaying the Dragon: The Journey from the Dungeon to the Ivory Tower, which presents many of the same principles from the perspective of the individual rather than the institution.

Together, these two works represent complementary approaches to the same philosophy.

Lords of the Dragon addresses how communities and organizations can build environments that promote successful rehabilitation.

Slaying the Dragon teaches individuals how to conquer the obstacles standing between them and the future they hope to create.

A Living Document

Unlike many reports that are published and forgotten, Lords of the Dragon has remained a living document.

Over nearly twenty years it has undergone continual research, revision, expansion, and refinement as new information, statistical data, and practical experience became available.

The edition presented here represents the culmination of that continuing effort.

Historical versions have also been preserved through independent web archiving, documenting the memorandum's long-term development and evolution.

Free Download

Lords of the Dragon is provided free of charge for educators, correctional professionals, policymakers, researchers, community organizations, business leaders, students, formerly incarcerated individuals, and anyone interested in innovative approaches to rehabilitation, entrepreneurship, prisoner reentry, criminal justice reform, and overcoming adversity.

It is offered in the hope that its ideas will encourage thoughtful discussion, inspire innovation, and contribute to the continuing search for effective, measurable, and sustainable solutions that strengthen individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole.