PRISON FELLOWSHIP BLOG

Yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder stood before the American Bar Association to announce that the Obama administration will be taking a new approach to decreasing the number of prisoners in the U.S. prison system.

The Wall Street Journal reports that this “major policy shift aimed at reversing decades of increasing incarceration,” will cut down on costs for the federal prison system and provide relief from overcrowded prisons.  

After years of work to limit astronomical phone rates in jails and prisons, we have reached a significant milestone!  At today’s open meeting in Washington, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 2-1 to cut the rates that prisoners and their families pay for interstate phone calls. 

We all have a deep need to understand the Gospel in terms that are meaningful to us – that resonate in the deepest part of who we are.

A significant minority of men and women incarcerated in the United States speak Spanish as their primary language.

Jeffery Hopper has a picture of himself and his daughter, Amanda, sitting on the couch when she was just a little girl.

“She adored me. I was her world,” Jeffery remembers. “I destroyed it by going to prison.”

Jeffery grew up in Port Neches, Texas, where he adopted a criminal lifestyle early on.

This Friday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on a rule regarding prison phone rates. The FCC is considering limiting the cost of phone calls between prisoners and their families. The meeting will be held on August 9 at 10:30 AM.

Some people like to run in the morning. I am not one of those people. On a recent morning, however, as a concession to a major heat wave, I wanted to get out and get my miles done before the heat index rose above 100 degrees.

Every year, over 700,000 inmates are released from state and federal prisons across the United States.  The joy of their new freedom, however, is tempered by the realization that substantial roadblocks remain to successful reintegration.  The stigma of being an ex-prisoner makes it hard to find regular employment or housing, and the temptation to return to old friends and old habits is always present. 

The total number of inmates in state and federal prisons in the United States decreased by 1.7 percent in 2012, according to a new report issued by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.  It is the third consecutive annual decrease, following three decades of growth.

Peter Wiser clearly remembers the night God called out to him. Everything went quiet, and the traffic became invisible. At 35 years old, he cried out to God in his grandmother’s backyard saying, “I know You’re real. If You hear me I need Your help.

Sandow Birk is an artist specializing in 19th Century landscapes, particularly of his native California.  For a recent exhibition, however, Birk has turned his attention from bucolic vineyards and peaceful coastlines to a somewhat unexpected subject – the landscapes of the state’s prisons.

We are pleased to announce that the U.S. House Appropriations Committee honored Chuck Colson with a task force on federal corrections. The Committee has set aside funds in the FY2014 spending bill to establish the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections to make recommendations to increase public safety, improve offender accountability, reduce recidivism, address victims’ services, and control costs.

My Prison Fellowship Racing teammates and I had to help one another get over an eight-foot wall just to get into the race orientation area. At the Tough Mudder challenge race in Grand Rapids, Michigan, last month, teamwork was key right from the beginning.

As we enter a new fiscal year, we look back on one of the biggest moments of 2013 – God’s miraculous work behind bars at Easter!

Over Easter weekend, Prison Fellowship CEO Jim Liske and Prison Fellowship President Garland Hunt shared the Gospel with prisoners in Florida and Texas.

The following commentary originally appeared on the Colson Center for Christian Worldview’s Breakpoint website.  For more more information about the work of the Colson Center, and how to subscribe to Eric Metaxas’ daily commentaries, visit www.breakpoint.org.

Improve the human race by eliminating the weak.