So the people of the valley sent a message up the hill, asking for the buried treasure, tons of gold for which they’d kill. Came an answer from the kingdom “with our brothers we will share all the secrets of our mountain, all the riches buried there.”
I have some very good news: after nearly four decades of explosive growth, the prison population in the U.S. has dropped for the second year in a row. Inmate counts fell in about half the states in each year, according to the December 2012 data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
When Jesus was ministering near the Jordan River, a messenger came with the news that his friend Lazarus was sick unto death in the town of Bethany. But Jesus was not in a rush to get there. He waited two more days, saying, in essence, “Lazarus is just asleep.
In January, Alyson Quinn wrote a story about Angela Patton and her idea of holding father-daughter dances in prison. Such a dance was recently held at the Richmond (Virginia) City Jail, and has garnered a fair amount of media attention.
An article in the Washington Post takes a look at the event, giving a glimpse of both fathers and daughters as they prepare for the dance.
Cynthia Tilley has a black-and-white photograph of her, her brother, and her father. She doesn’t remember the occasion, but she believes it must have been taken at their Texas home around Christmastime. Wrapped gift boxes surround the father and his two tiny children.
This past Easter, the newly elected Pope Francis made waves by choosing to spend Maundy Thursday washing the feet of young prisoners in a juvenile detention center in Rome.
The pontiff’s decision to visit those behind bars during Holy Week reflects an Easter tradition that has been observed at Prison Fellowship for 35 years.
“Remember Jesus of Nazareth, staggering on broken feet out of the tomb toward the Resurrection, bearing on his body the proud insignia of the defeat which is victory, the magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God.”
– Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat
Easter morning service was exhilarating and joyous – rousing music, a reading of the familiar but amazing gospel account of Jesus’ resurrection, and an inspiring sermon culminating in a festive Eucharistic celebration.
Easter is almost here! Will you keep watch and pray with us?
Carrying on a tradition started by Chuck Colson in the earliest days of Prison Fellowship, President Garland Hunt and CEO Jim Liske will lead teams of staff, volunteers, and supporters to celebrate the Resurrection with prisoners this Easter weekend.
Can science determine an inmate’s propensity to re-offend? A new study suggests that by scanning a portion of the brain associated with decision-making, scientists are able to determine which prisoners are likely to be arrested again.
A team of neuroscientists from the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, New Mexico, examined 96 male inmates preparing for release in two state prisons.
This Sunday Prison Fellowship will celebrate the Resurrection with services behind bars. Some prisoners will be hearing the Gospel for the very first time, and my prayer is that their hearts will be softened as they listen. Others will already know the Gospel.
When we don’t forgive, we drink the poison ourselves and then wait for the other person to die. And we take the knife that has hurt us and we stab ourselves with it again. …
But when we forgive, we pour out the poison of the enemy and of the devil and we don’t let the poison stay in us and we don’t let the poison make us into poisonous snakes!
Beginning Easter weekend, Prison Fellowship and Provident Film will offer prisoners a chance to view the new film Unconditional, the inspiring story of “Papa Joe” Bradford, a former inmate who is making a difference in the lives of at-risk youth in Nashville, Tennessee.
Recently I met Randy, a quiet, unsung hero of the effort to bring men and women safely back into our communities. Randy’s background is not exceptional. He’s a carpenter without a college education. He’s a former addict. But when we talked, he was just about to open his sixteenth transitional home to keep a roof over the head of former prisoners.
At his installation service, Pope Francis urged Roman Catholics around the world to serve “the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison.”
A recent article in the Weekly Standard proclaims the Republican Party the “party of prison reform.” The story looks at a number of conservative legislators and policy makers who are actively pushing for changes in the current correctional system, including reducing prison populations, improving reentry opportunities, and mental health reforms.