“Thirty years, you know, [Melvin has] been here 30 years,” says Warden Linda Thomas. “He loves Bridgeport.”

Melvin Bostick has been an officer at the Bridgeport Correctional Center in Bridgeport, TX, since it opened in 1989. While there’s much he loves about his job, it all comes down to one thing: the opportunity to change lives.

“If we can turn out a better person, then we’re actually affecting other lives down the line,” Melvin says. “If I save one, that one saves another one. And so it all kind of comes back together to a better community that we are releasing our residents back into. Because they become better people. Because of our commitment to what we do.”

“He always puts the facility first,” Warden Thomas says. “He can work any post here. He never, ever complains about anything he does, and he takes pride in his work. Everything about MTC, he loves.”

When not at work, Officer Bostick loves to be in the outdoors and spend time with his family. He’s also known for making sliders, popcorn, and even home-fashioned Christmas ornaments to hand out to everyone.

“He goes all out of the way just to make sure people feel special,” Warden Thomas explains.

“I believe my unit is the best unit,” Melvin emotionally says. “So, I take a lot of pride in that. It means something. We take a lot of pride in our unit. We want it to look the best. We want it to be clean. We want to encourage and engage the offenders with a positive outcome. A lot of them have never had a positive outcome. All their outcomes have been negative. That’s how they ended up in prison. So, we have a lot of programs designed based on that ideal that positive input you get a positive outcome. So, then you get a more positive person. So, we try to do that.”