Since 2006, Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree program has been sponsoring a football camp for disadvantaged youth at Stanford University. Current and former NFL players and coaches volunteer their services for the free camp, which serves boys ages 7 to 13 from northern and central California, many who have a parent behind bars.
For more information about the camp, or to find out how to start a camp in your community, contact Joe Avila, Prison Fellowship's executive director in northern California, at joe_avila@pfm.org.
Many state officials are seeking ways to cut spending. States like Mississippi are now open to reviewing alternative ways to reduce the budget of prison costs.
Members of the Mississippi House Corrections Committee met this week where Marc Levin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Dave Louden of Justice Fellowship on behalf of the Right on Crime Coalition shared ways they have worked to reduce spending in other states.
By releasing non-violent offenders into supervised work release programs, ex-offenders are able to reenter the society and be closer to their family. In states like South Carolina, crime rates have dropped and the incidence of repeat offenders has lessened.
Dave Louden of Justice Fellowship shared an example of what South Carolina has been able to accomplish over the last two years with reforms:
"In South Carolina where you got a very Republican legislature and a very Republican governor, they enacted these reforms two years ago, they saved close to 200 million dollars."
The Mississippi article described the dire need for reform saying, "the state of Mississippi spends $330 million dollars a year on adult corrections. The cost per day to house a prisoner is $41.74, which officials say is lower than what most states spend."
Click here to read the full article and watch the video.
In the aftermath of the terrible prison fire in Honduras that has clamed at least 359 lives (as of this writing), more and more attention is being given to the inhumane conditions in corrections facilities worldwide.
Appearing on the Christian Broadcasting Network's News Channel Morning News, Prison Fellowship International CEO Ron Nikkel addresses these issues, and explains why it is important to proclaim the Gospel to prisoners in both word and deed:
We have to demonstrate God's love with practical concern on issues [inmates] care about - issues affecting their lives. So whether it's hunger, medical care, or overcrowding or injustice, that's part of what it means to display the love of Christ in prisons of the world.
Inside Journal® is Prison Fellowship’s free, quarterly newspaper for inmates. Each issue contains articles written to inspire, encourage and inform men and women behind bars. Recently an inmate named Will wrote to Inside Journal to tell us how an article had impacted him. We were blown away, and we thought we’d share it with our readers:
Grace and peace in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
My name is William H ----. I’m 47 years old and currently incarcerated within the Florida Department of Corrections.
First of all I’d like to tell you that your newsletter has always managed to lift my spirits and touch my heart at different times in my life. I’m what the state has termed a repeat-offender of my own making. All because of my stubbornness and hard-hearted belief in myself and my abilities which have done nothing for me expect to rob me of more than half of my life. The Lord has graciously allowed me to come to the end of myself in final surrender through much pain and suffering this last time around. I wasted no time in bowing at His feet knowing how close I had come to death and possibly having caused the death of a young woman that I loved very much.
I am about seven months into a three year sentence of which I have about 23 more months to do. As I was reading the Fall 2011 edition of the Inside Journal I read the story from ‘Bank Robber to King’ written by Beth Reid about Mr. John Jennings (founder of FAVAR ministries). I think it was truly an awesome blessing that this gentleman Bruce Williams loved the Lord so much that he was able to display this love in action to one us better known in society as “untouchable.” Surely he will be called great in the Kingdom of God.
This reminded me of the story in the bible of the traveler who found the man injured by the side of the road, he reach out and cared for him until he was well. You see, I’ve been injured for a very long time just waiting by the side of the road for someone to reach out and help me. After many attempts of trying to do it on my own I always fail, I realize that not only must I rely on Christ but “no man is an island.” My brothers and sisters are those within the body of Christ who live to serve one another.
Today I can humbly admit that I can’t do it alone and that at my age, I could really use some help to get on my feet. I’m so careful to want only what God would have for me today in every area of my life and I pray that this letter is in line with his purpose for me.
My release date is ... 2013, and I have no idea where I will go or how I will live, I’m trusting that He will provide a way … Once again, I’m truly grateful for your newsletter. It may be light in weight but heavy in blessings!
Join Prison Fellowship in praying for Will as he prepares for freedom.
Craig DeRoche, former Michigan Speaker and now Director of External Affairs at Justice Fellowship talks to Michigan Matters host Carol Cain about his issues due to alcoholism as well as the problems and remedies of America's prison system. Click here to see the full interview.
Early Saturday morning I went down to the beach with my dog for our daily run. It was still the beginning of the season so I expected the long strand to be deserted, an ideal place for man and dog to ponder the beauty of unspoiled nature and to run unhindered. However, as I made my way across the gentle saw-grass dunes down to the beach, I was confronted with an ugly sight -- a group of unruly young revellers had invaded my "paradise" to celebrate the long daylight of the summer solstice. Beer bottles and half-emptied soft drink and food contrainers were strewn about, as far as they had been thrown. The charred smoky remains of a campfire smouldred near a lopsided tent. Papers and garbage littered the pristine beach. More than being annoyed, I was angered by the blatant irresponsibility that greeted my morning run on a beach that is a designated nature peserve. Of all the nerve!
The revelry of the previous night had evidently taken a toll on the kids who were sleeping in a state of apparent stupor. It was all I could do to resist the strong urge of yanking the tent down on top of them, not because I was inclined toward mercy, but because I opted to avoid a noisy altercation. "Idiots!" I thought to myself as I kicked a bottle out of the way, again resisting an urge to pick it up and hurl it at the tent. My tolerance level for their irresponsible behaviour was about as low as could be; it was all I could do to walk the other way.
As I ran along the beach, I began to think about my instinctive impulse toward anger, how easy it is to become annoyed and angry and judgmental in response to the stupidity, inconsiderateness, and misbehaviour of other people. My natural inclination toward irresponsibility is anything but one of compassion and understanding. My response toward irresponsible people is usually that of wanting to teach them a lesson, making them pay for their inappropriate actions, and making them feel guilty and ashamed of their actions. To respond with mercy to the irresponsibility and wrongdoing of people seems itself to be an act of gross irresponsibility, for mercy takes people "off the hook" – it allows them to avoid paying the penalty or price for wrongdoing.
We highlighted a report earlier this week on the effectiveness of Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freedom Initiative in Minnesota for reducing recidivism. The study which was based on tracking 732 offenders after their release in 2003 found that the program decreased the risk of reoffending between 26 and 40 percent.
Around the same time, another study began based on tracking the release of 14,000 offenders in Connecticut, though with much different results.
The overall rates in the report — 78.6 percent of the 14,400 rearrested; 49.8 percent returned to prison with new sentences — appear to jibe with national rates and are higher than those some states, but lower than others, said Kuzyk.
An often-cited study by the Department of Justice in 2002 found that 67 percent of prisoners it had tracked were rearrested, and 52 percent landed back in prison with a new sentence.
The Connecticut figures "while alarming, are about what you would expect,'' said Kuzyk, who worked with parole and probation officers, treatment counselors, and the state Department of Correction on the project. The team compiled an offense profile for each of the released inmates over the five years.
Mr. Kuzyk is right. Without the transforming power of the gospel, it is “about what you would expect.” The good news is there is proof of a better program based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Please consider supporting the proven program. To learn more about InnerChange Freedom Initiative click here.
The New York Times recently interviewed Prison Fellowship CEO Jim Liske for an article about the Obama administration’s controversial decision to mandate that employers – including many faith-based institutions - cover contraception for their employees.
After a firestorm of controversy followed the initial announcement in January, the administration announced a compromise: religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations would not have to violate their consciences by covering contraceptives and abortifacients - insurers would bear the burden.
But there’s still a problem: Many faith-based organizations – like Prison Fellowship – have self-funded insurance plans, so the Obama compromise offers no real solution.
Says The New York Times:
Now, the organizations are trying to determine how to reconcile their objections to offering birth control on religious grounds with their role as insurers — or whether there can be any reconciliation at all. And the administration still cannot put the thorny issue to rest.
“We’re all kind of waiting and seeing,” said Jim Liske, chief executive of the Prison Fellowship, a Christian charity that insures itself and objects to offering the morning-after pill to its employees.
The Obama administration has made comments indicating it will continue to work to find a resolution that works for self-insuring organizations like PF. For now, they’re still waiting. If no solution emerges, organizations that object to the mandate could face a stiff per-employee penalty.
In the interview, Liske held out hope for a compromise.
“It seems to me that they’ve given a pretty clear signal that we are going to have to do something different,” said Mr. Liske, of the Prison Fellowship, which employs 200 workers, 110 of them women.
The organization views the morning-after pill as a form of abortion, which it opposes. And although Mr. Liske said he was heartened that the administration said it would work with groups like his to reach a solution, “anything that would put us in a situation where we would be directly or indirectly funding abortions would not be acceptable to us.”
A devastating fire ripped through a Honduran prison today killing at least 300 inmates. Here is more from the Associated Press on what they are saying is one of the world's deadliest fires in decades:
Some 475 people escaped from the prison in the town of Comayagua and 356 are missing and presumed dead, said Hector Ivan Mejia, a spokesman for the Honduras Security Ministry. He said 21 people had been injured.
Dozens were trapped behind bars as prison authorities tried to find the keys, officials said. Honduran authorities said the fire had been started by a prisoner who set his mattress ablaze in his cell.
Nobody knows what prompted the prisoner to start the fire but overcrowding and prison conditions have plagued the country for years.
Honduras' overcrowded and dilapidated prisons have been hit by a string of deadly riots and fires in recent years. A 2004 prison fire killed more than 100 incarcerated gang members in a state prison north of the capital. A fire a year earlier at a nearby facility killed 70 gang members. In 1994, a fire sparked by an overheated refrigerator motor in an overcrowded Honduras prison killed 103 people.
Honduran authorities have repeatedly pledged to improve conditions but human rights groups say little has been done.
Prison Fellowship International president, Ron W. Nikkel, has visited the Honduran prison and spoke with CNN earlier today about what he saw.
"It's horrifically overcrowded. The bunks are sometimes five, six, seven tiers high, with the lowest person on the totem pole sleeping underneath the bunk on the bottom," he told CNN from Washington.
"I've seldom been anywhere where I've seen such overcrowding. There have been a number of fires over the years and it's surprising it hasn't been worse or happened sooner than this.
"You wouldn't have congestion like that in a dog pound, it's so bad -- and very little ventilation, so I can imagine a lot of the guys died from smoke inhalation."
Picture a prisoner in your mind. How old is he? What’s his race? What crime did he commit? If you’re like most of us, you’ve probably got a pretty detailed idea, fueled by films, new coverage or your own imagination. But have you ever wondered how well that picture jives with reality? Consider these statistics from the Bureau of Prisons.
As of January 28, 2012, the federal Bureau of Prisons (to be distinguished from state prisons or county jails) has 216,511 inmates in custody.
The majority (59 percent) are white.
More than 6 percent are women.
The average federal prisoner is 39 years old.
Only three percent are serving a life sentence (the rest will be released one day).
Almost half (49 percent) are behind bars for a drug offense.
Fewer than one in ten are behind bars for murder or rape.
Twelve percent are behind bars for an immigration offense.
Twenty-seven percent are citizens of a country other than the United States.
Which of these statistics was most surprising to you? Let us know with a comment.
Lisa M. Rea, a former Prison Fellowship staff member and the founder of the Justice and Reconciliation Project, offers her thoughts on the future of restorative justice in a paper released by the Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University.
In "Restorative Justice: The New Way Forward," Rea urges her readers to reconsider the very nature of crime, and how we have defined it as a society. "[Crime] is not an offense of a criminal against the state," she argues, "but an offense committed by one individual (the offender) against other individuals (the victims). . . . Restorative justice acknowledges that crime breaks the peace within communities. Offenders, therefore, must make things right with the community as well, if possible."
Rea concludes:
Restorative justice promises to move us away from warehousing offenders and toward a system that leads offenders to personal accountability and allows victims to heal. It needs the support of all who are committed to doing justice, to restoring the lives of victims, and to transforming the lives of offenders. It requires champions who advocate for public policy changes to make restorative justice a reality throughout our justice system.
Do you agree with Rea? What are the limitations to a restorative justice approach to corrections?
A new report from the Minnesota Department of Corrections shows just how successful Prison Fellowship's InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) has been in reducing recidivism among former inmates in that state.
The study looks at 732 offenders released between 2003 and 2009. After following these ex-prisoners for three years, the study found that participation in the program decreased the risk of reoffending between 26 and 40 percent. Because IFI does not incur any additional costs to the state, the program is cost-effective, and even has the residual effect or reducing reincarceration and victimization costs.
Much of the credit to the program is given to the "continuum of mentoring support" IFI members receive both during their time behind bars and after their release. The report summary highlights the work of these volunteers, as well as the cirriculum :
There are likely several reasons why InnerChange reduces recidivism. While traditional or mainstream Christian doctrine promotes a pro-social, crime-free lifestyle, InnerChange has attempted to mitigate the recidivism risk of those who participate by also focusing on issues such as education, criminal thinking, and chemical dependency. Similar to therapeutic communities, which have been found to be effective in reducing recidivism, InnerChange participants live in a separate housing unit. Further, InnerChange participants receive a continuum of care that connects the delivery of programming in the institution to that provided in the community. Lastly, InnerChange expands offender social support networks by providing them with mentors and connecting them with faith communities after their release from prison.
A Minnesota Public Radio report on the study findings features commentary by a number people familiar with the IFI program, including Prison Fellowship CEO Jim Liske.
[In many parts of the world] the only qualification necessary to become a prisoner is to be accused by someone. I know of places and circumstances in which the accusation doesn’t even have to be criminal, true, or provable. There are people in prison today simply because someone has accused them of something – a transgression, an unpaid debt, a perceived threat, or simply “suspicious behaviour.” Not all of them are guilty, but they are accused.
Some years ago, I met a powerful businessman in Zambia who had been imprisoned, ostensibly because his wealth and power made him a threat to national security, at least to the President’s sense of control. He was accused, imprisoned with common criminals, and yet never sent to trial. Imprisonment upon accusation was simply intended to bring him down – to teach him a lesson. Whilst separated from his family and suffering in prison, under conditions that can only be described as dehumanising, he discovered that Jesus was with him amid all of the hunger, squalor, overcrowding, and disease. In the midst of accusation and humiliation and fear, he came to realize just how much Jesus loved him.
This week in Washington, DC, as conservatives gathered at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference to see presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, Justice Fellowship (JF) educated attendees by hosting a panel on overcriminalization.
Justice Fellowship’s panel “Criminal Justice Reform: Too Many Crimes, Too Many Criminals” educated those in attendance about the problem with locking too many people away for too long for non-violent offenses. Justice Fellowship President Pat Nolan moderated the panel and opened the time with a convicting speech marking with great detail the problems that arise when the government raids businesses like Gibson Guitar instead of directing scarce resources to go after violent criminals.
The Gibson Guitar Raids by the federal government serve as one example of overcriminalization. The esteemed panelists revealed other examples of overreach by the government. Panelist at the Justice Fellowship hosted event were: David Keene, President of National Rifle Association; Eli Lehrer, Vice President of The Heartland Institute; and Mary Schmid Mergler, Senior Counsel at The Constitution Project.
The federal criminal code continues to swell with arcane laws making criminals out of honest citizens, sending good people to prison for very long sentences. The federal government has dramatically expanded its federal criminal code with over 4,000 criminal offenses and at least 10,000 federal rules. These laws increasingly focus on regulatory violations, which are unlawful because of government decree – not for defying moral law.
The overcriminalization of our society erodes the rule of law and threatens liberty. This undermines public confidence in the law code, expands government control over individual freedom, and increases the likelihood of people committing crimes unknowingly. Justice Fellowship stands to make clear that when we lock up so many people for too long for non-violent offenses, we impact their families and ultimately impact society. Visit JF’s overcriminalization page for more information.
Students at George Washington University's Institute for Documentary Filmmaking have been awarded the the inaugural Washington Best Film award for their documentary Released to Life. The film follows several recently-released inmates who are seeking to reenter a society that is not inclined to help them rebuild their lives or assist them in staying out of prison.
"We all went into documentary filmmaking because of its power to tackle tough social issues and inspire change," says Yavar Moghimi, one of the student producers of the film. "This recognition will help spread the film's ultimate message: that incarcerated people are transitioning back into society more than ever and we need to make sure they are prepared for the struggles that await them."
Rick Snyder, Governor of Michigan, has prioritized the privatization of prisons in his state. But existing law would require private contractors to pay prison workers minimum wage - 10 times what the state pays them - for their labors as kitchen staff or janitors.
The statute has held up privatization attempts, and it shows that prison privatization is not the budgetary silver bullet many states have hoped it would be.
In recent years, the number of women being incarcerated has grown exponentially. Most of these women are non-violent, first-time offenders. And some of them will give birth while in prison
A bill in the Virginia state legislature seeks to end the archaic practice of shackling pregnant inmates. At a joint press conference of groups in favor of the bill, Justice Fellowship staffer Kristin Turner, who is pregnant herself, fought back tears as she urged legislative support:
As a pregnant woman, it horrifies me that women succumb to this barbaric and unnecessary practice…I can’t imagine bringing my child into this world in such a degrading and humiliating manner. Restraining inmates during labor and childbirth is cruel and offends the dignity of the mother, endangers the child, and is a stain on our society.
Sadly, the criminal justice system has been too slow to adapt to the increase in female inmates. The female prison population suffers from deficient OB/GYN care. Justice Fellowship advocates for attention to women's distinct needs.
With the proposed legislation in Virginia, the issue drew support this week from groups across the political divide. However, the legislation, as the Post points out, has run into opposition from the Virginia Sheriffs Association, claiming there is no evidence of mistreatment of pregnant inmates in state correctional facilities. Contrary to the claims of the Sheriff’s Association, the ACLU of Virginia has documented several stories of women who have recently gone through the horrific experience of giving birth in shackles.
Delegates Hope and LeMunyon’s bill in Virginia would prohibit the shackling of a pregnant inmate unless authorities determine she is a flight risk or a safety threat. Unfortunately this bill was tabled in subcommittee just today, threatening the safety of women and their babies in Virginia for another year.
Visit Justice Fellowship’s Women in Prison page for more information.
As soon as I walked into The King’s Kitchen, a restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina, I knew I was someplace special. The décor was simple and elegant, and the air was filled with the mouth-watering smell of what restaurateur/owner Jim Noble likes to call “new local southern cuisine.”
But what’s really special about The King’s Kitchen didn’t become apparent until our waitress arrived to not just take our order, but to explain the vision of this remarkable establishment! She told us that The King’s Kitchen is a not-for-profit restaurant, a place with a passion to care for the poor and empower the difficult to employ – including ex-prisoners –while providing an excellent experience for diners.
Jim Noble and his wife Karen, who started out serving homeless Charlotteans from their string of restaurants but decided it “wasn’t enough,” founded The King’s Kitchen to provide life skills and Christian discipleship training to the homeless, ex-prisoners, and other jobseekers on the margins.
I came away from my dining experience with a deep appreciation for the Nobles’ endeavors. They want to serve the down-and-out – as well as their patrons – with care and excellence, because they know that all of them matter to God. And they believe that when all these realize just how much they do matter to God, the whole community will be transformed.
At Prison Fellowship, we have a similar vision – to equip the Church to care for prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families with such excellence, that we will all stand in awe of God’s great love and plans for us, and then begin to be transformed by that awareness. Now that’s what I call a noble endeavor – one we can all sink our teeth into!
I tend not to take things at face value. If something sounds too good to be true – it probably is. Behind the ideas and claims of other people I suspect and often find hidden motives and meanings. God forgive me for being so sceptical.
Almost every time I visit prison and talk with inmates I find the same scepticism coming back at me. What can I possibly say in response to their unbelief – their disbelief? The gospel sounds like a fantasy, too good to be true, out of touch with the gritty stuff of reality. How can I even begin to prove the existence of God or persuade them of God’s presence in the filth and over-crowding of cell-block “B”? "I don't believe in anything, except myself," mutters one inmate; “can’t trust no-one.” "Show me God, and I’ll believe it! Where's God been hiding when everything is so [messed] up?" I tried the God thing and bummed out," interjects another prisoner. "I gave it a chance, and it didn't do nothing for me. If God is so great, why doesn't he show up right here and now?”
In today's BreakPoint commentary, Prison Fellowship CEO Jim Liske talks about some of the hurdles that ex-offenders must face, even after serving their sentences.
Certainly, conviction for certain violent crimes should serve as a bar for future employment in specific fields. No one would think it wise for a school to hire an ex-sex offender, even if that offender has completed his time behind bars. But what about someone who was arrested for drug possession over 25 years ago, and has been clean since 1988?
This was the case with Darrell Langdon, who applied for the job of boiler room engineer with the Chicago Public Shools. According to state law, Langdon was forbidden to work on school property because of his prior conviction, even though he had served his sentence and turned his life around.
In Langdon's case, an exemption to the law was approved, and he was hired. For other ex-prisoners, however, previous convictions and youthful indiscretions can follow them around for life, making them unemployable.
Criminologists Alfred Blumstein and Kiminori Nakamura have suggested that one solution to this problem would be to make criminal records "expirable" after a certain period of good behavior. Is this a good idea? What other courses of action can be taken to ensure that others like Darrell Langdon can reintegrate with society, while maintaining public safety and good order?
We highlighted a report earlier this week on the effectiveness of Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freedom Initiative in Minnesota for reducing recidivism. The study which was based on tracking 732 offenders after their release in 2003 found that the program decreased the risk of reoffending between 26 and 40 percent. 
Some years ago, I met a powerful businessman in Zambia who had been imprisoned, ostensibly because his wealth and power made him a threat to national security, at least to the President’s sense of control. He was accused, imprisoned with common criminals, and yet never sent to trial. Imprisonment upon accusation was simply intended to bring him down – to teach him a lesson. Whilst separated from his family and suffering in prison, under conditions that can only be described as dehumanising, he discovered that Jesus was with him amid all of the hunger, squalor, overcrowding, and disease. In the midst of accusation and humiliation and fear, he came to realize just how much Jesus loved him.
