Prison Fellowship Academy – Case Statement

OUR CHALLENGE

Prisons are major shapers of culture. But we get to decide whether lives will be shaped for the worse—or for the better. Prisons can be structured to promote safety, hope, healing, community, responsibility, and productivity, catalyzing a cultural cycle of renewal. We have a critical, once-in-a-generation opportunity to influence the future course of corrections and community safety. Join us!

THE PROVEN SOLUTION

We know that our Academies work. In a study conducted by the Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, graduates of the Prison Fellowship Academy in Texas were found to be 17 percent less likely than their non-Academy peers to be re-arrested, and 12 percent less likely to be re-incarcerated, during the two-year period following their release from prison. In Minnesota, the Department of Corrections conducted a study to verify the Academy’s effectiveness. There, graduates of the full program had a recidivism rate of 0.8 percent, compared to the state average of 40 percent. A companion study, led by Dr. Byron Johnson of Baylor University, reported that our program in Minnesota resulted in a benefit of $3 million for the state.