Payton Tucker can usually be found trying to track down incarcerated people at South Idaho Correctional Institution, a minimum custody facility, or working through her list of one-on-one visits at the nearby medium custody Idaho State Correctional Institution.
She always seems to have a smile on her face, and works tirelessly to help people prepare for reentry. Tucker’s job is of great importance. U.S. Department of Justice statistics show that about 95% of people are expected to return home from state prisons at some point. But they often encounter significant barriers to finding housing, jobs or important social safety nets that will prevent them from returning to prison.
Even though almost everyone comes home, about 71% of people return to prison within five years of leaving, according to the last widespread study conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2012.
As a reentry navigator with the nonprofit Society of St. Vincent de Paul Southwest Idaho, Tucker speaks to each incarcerated person she works with to learn their needs. She helps people find job openings, housing, social services and helpful programs or classes they can access, among other things. Tucker said she takes a holistic approach to a person’s transition from prison to society.
“Nearly every person that experiences incarceration is going to be someone’s neighbor,” Tucker told me during an interview in February, at her desk in the back of the prison’s graphics shop.
A formative time
In seventh grade, Tucker was living in Hawaii and had her whole life planned out. She was going to be a doctor. Then, in high school, she saw a gruesome video of a basketball player’s shinbone compound fracture and changed her mind.
Midway through high school, Tucker and her family moved to Idaho, where she finished high school. Being a bit of a bookworm, Tucker liked to read about all the different places she could live. She decided to move to New York City for college and major in teaching.
“I was nervous until I got off the plane in New York, then I felt like I was at the place I was meant to be,” she said.
During college, Tucker joined a homeless outreach group, where she became a student leader. “That struck a chord within me,” Tucker said.
After college, Tucker returned to Idaho and began working for a Waldorf education-based school. The Waldorf methodology was built around the physiological and psychological stages of child development. She taught seventh grade in a system that had little to no technology. All her exhibits and notes were drawn on a chalkboard or on large pieces of paper to be hung on the classroom walls. They’d start the day with meditative chants together, and experience lessons in the form of storytelling and hands-on learning.
Over time, her interest in teaching waned. Tucker often felt like she was doing more paperwork than face-to-face teaching. She wanted to sit across from someone, not stare at her laptop.
A couple years ago, Tucker volunteered for Cookies for Corrections, a local program where St. Vincent de Paul volunteers pass out cookies and holiday cheer to residents during the Christmas season.
“I walked away feeling like I wanted to come back and bring light to their day,” she said.
A dream job
In 2025, just as Tucker decided to move on from teaching, the reentry navigator job with St. Vincent de Paul Southwest Idaho opened. She was hired in April of that year.
“I’m grateful to be part of the team because they are such a loving and dedicated group of people,” Tucker said. “We’re a perfect puzzle of people.”
When asked what she dislikes about the job, she said, “There are so many people who need our help yet so few resources to offer them.”
As a reentry navigator, Tucker’s job is to find out what incarcerated people need to be successful when returning to society.
Tucker leans heavily on her storytelling and teaching background when she helps people draft resumes, cover letters and find substance abuse or mental health counseling. If the person needs a ride to get to and from appointments, she’ll figure that out too.
“Every [prisoner ID] number is attached to a real live human being,” Tucker said. “I need to sit with them face-to-face and open my heart up so I can really listen to what they need, not just hear the words they say. We can then come up with a plan tailored to them, which will give them a better opportunity to be successful upon their release.”
Chris Carter, who’s detained at Idaho State Correctional Institution, said Tucker has been great to work with as he navigates his upcoming release.
“She really listens to you and will explore a bunch of different options until you find something that feels right to you,” Carter said.
‘Every story matters’
Jim McGahey, the inmate workforce development coordinator for Idaho Correctional Industries at the prison, said Tucker is good at her job because she has “developed a network of resources and understands how to utilize that network.”
“Recently she’s been working with an inmate that has done 30 years,” McGahey said. “He had no outside support. Payton crafted and built around him a network of support so that the guy is now getting out with people to pick him up, housing, job opportunities and four different phone numbers of people out in the community that can help him.”
Reentry isn’t easy. It’s important to have someone like Tucker to listen to our stories and help that transition be as seamless as possible. It’s her enthusiasm, her kind words and genuine compassion that are felt the most.
“It’s important to operate from a space in which you understand that everyone has a story and that every story matters,” Tucker said.
