R.A. Tutson, LLC | Author · Advocate

Published Work

The Scarred Systems Series

Available Now

The Fourth Floor

Scarred Systems, Book One

The Fourth Floor opens the Scarred Systems series — a raw, unflinching story told from the inside of the systems most people only read about. Written by someone who wore the uniform, sat on the commission, watched the door close on people she loved, and refused to look away.

This is the story America doesn't tell cleanly. Built on lived experience, shaped into fiction, and written with the kind of clarity that only comes from having been in every room the book describes.

Get Your Copy on Amazon IngramSpark

Scan to Buy

Book Two — 2025

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

Scarred Systems, Book Two

When the Italian Consulate's security detail arrives at a La Jolla mansion, they're prepared for stolen passports and diplomatic incidents. Not this. Special Consultant Lucien Blaze exits the house in his bespoke charcoal suit — composed, precise, and completely hollowed out.

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree is a crime thriller built on the oldest question in the law: what do you do with evidence that should never have existed? Book Two of the Scarred Systems series.

Get Your Copy

Coming Soon

Square One Community Rehabilitation

Square One Community Rehabilitation is a Jacksonville-based nonprofit being built by Rhian and Kris Tutson. Its mission: end civic death — the second sentence America imposes on returning citizens through housing denials, job rejections, and the systematic dismantling of every tool required to rejoin society.

When launched, Square One will meet people at the gate on release day and walk them back into full civic life: housing, identification, employment, benefits, dignity, belonging. The model is an eight-program, tightly integrated reentry system anchored in a 30-bed transitional housing facility.

Square One will also serve military veterans experiencing homelessness and housing-unstable individuals. A separate Family Stability Site will serve primary caregivers with young children.

🔑Pre-release partnership with FL DOC — housing reserved before the gate opens

🚐Release Day Experience — shuttle, welcome kit, phone, laptop, hot meal, room key

🏠Private transitional housing — the address that unlocks everything else

🤝Comeback Coaches — daily human presence, not case managers behind a desk

🌇Bridge Builders — employment, legal aid, benefits, driver’s license reinstatement

👔Dignity Closet — 14 complete outfits per resident, professional interview attire

🚗Mobility Program — 90-day rideshare credits, license reinstatement support

🎖Veteran Reentry Track — VA benefits, peer support, VSO connections

“Nobody leaves the gate alone.”

Rhian has stood on both sides of that gate. She wore the FHP uniform and watched the door close. She also watched people she loves walk through it — blinking in the sunlight, holding a garbage bag of belongings and release papers that don’t mention where they’re supposed to sleep that night.

Square One is being built because she refuses to pretend the door is fair.

The cheapest anti-recidivism intervention in the history of public safety is a door someone is waiting on the other side of.

Get Notified at Launch

The Story

Rhian A. Tutson

Rhian A. Tutson is an author, advocate, and entrepreneur whose work sits at the intersection of justice, education, and community empowerment. She has worked as a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, a DCPS Technical Manager, and an appointed commissioner on the Jacksonville Housing and Community Development Commission.

She co-founded Square One Community Rehabilitation with her husband Kris Tutson because she has stood on both sides of the systems she’s fighting to fix — and refused to pretend they were fair. She built R.A. Tutson, LLC to create a platform that speaks truth, builds opportunity, and lights the path forward for the people who need it most.

Former Florida Highway Patrol Trooper

DCPS Technical Manager

Appointed Member, Jacksonville Housing & Community Development Commission

Co-Founder & Executive Director, Square One Community Rehabilitation

Author — The Fourth Floor: Scarred Systems, Book One

Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida

Mission

“Illuminate. Empower. Transform.”

What We Build

Writing, advocacy, and organizing rooted in lived experience — built to move communities forward.

R.A. Tutson, LLC is the platform. Square One is the mission in action. The Fourth Floor is the story. They are all the same work, told in different forms.

Work With Us

Services

🎤

Speaking & Keynotes

Story-driven talks for conferences, schools, faith communities, corrections-adjacent organizations, and anyone ready to have an honest conversation about justice, reentry, and what real second chances look like.

📋

Consulting

Strategic guidance for nonprofits, reentry programs, government agencies, and community organizations building people-centered, sustainable models. Especially where systems intersect — housing, workforce, criminal justice, schools.

🤝

Partnership & Advocacy

Organizational partnerships for employers ready to hire returning citizens, landlords willing to open doors, and funders who want their dollars to land where the need is real. Square One partnership inquiries welcome here.

✍

Writing & Content

Grant writing support, policy writing, advocacy content, and ghost-writing for leaders and organizations with a story worth telling and not enough hours to tell it.

R.A. Tutson