Remember Those in Prison
A BOLD VISION
A ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION OPPORTUNITY!
Prison Fellowship is embarking on a bold mission: a 10-year, $200-million commitment to transform corrections systems by putting 40 years of critical insights into action across America by our 50th anniversary.
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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.
OUR 10-YEAR GOALS
• 67,100 Academy graduates
• 50,330 released Academy graduates with a three-year recidivism rate no greater than 10 percent
• 16,770 incarcerated Academy graduates acting as positive peer models serving out their sentences
I had a heart change. I didn’t want to be that same Bill that I was before … If it can change a guy like me, why can’t it help the next guy?
—BILL, ACADEMY GRADUATE
MEASURING PROGRESS
We measure progress towards expected outcomes in three main areas: the success of released program participants re-entering their communities and not returning to prison (reduced recidivism), the moral and behavioral changes in the prisoner participants, and the overall impact of the programs within the corrections community. Our goal is to transform prisoners, the prison culture, and the communities to which men and women return.
PRISON FELLOWSHIP’S 40-TO-FIFTY CAMPAIGN
Interested in more information about Prison Fellowship’s bold 10-year mission? Download our full case statement for more details on our major goals, strategic initiatives, and success measurements.
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