Violent Prison Turns to PF

A murder had just happened when Edmund Duffy became the warden at the youth facility at Rikers Island, New York.  Hired to restore order to the mayhem, Duffy opened the doors to Prison Fellowship,  under the leadership of Field Director Vivian Grubb, and a consortium of local pastors, to teach a character-based class to a group of 20 juvenile offenders. Starting in mid-March, the volunteers began meeting one-to-one with the youth to talk about leadership, teamwork, compassion, self-control, and responsibility.

"A lot of the kids that are involved don't have a strong male adult role model in their lives. Their role models are the drug dealers on the corner," Duffy explained.

One of the correctional officers recently told Duffy that he observed that the guys in the class have started resolving conflicts without fighting and are trying to persuade other inmates to listen to the staff.

(Read article in the New York Times about the violence at Rikers Island)