The cover of the most recent Harvard Magazine proclaims it in large letters: “America’s Prison Problem.”
The accompanying article by Elizabeth Gudrais does a good job describing the current state of prisons in the United States. The author effectively shows that the current system is both inefficient and ineffective.
Joe Bruton knows how to welcome prisoners back into society. He has walked that road himself – twice. But his two experiences could not have looked more different. The first led to total failure, and the second to a whole new life.
Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472 – 1553 ), The Crucifixion with the Converted Centurion, 1536, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection (Courtesy National Gallery of Art) (Click on image to expand.)
The National Gallery of Art, carved out of a quarry’s worth of marble, stands on the edge of the National Mall.
Ten years ago on a cold dark night, Someone was killed ‘neath the town hall light. There were few at the scene, but they all agreed, That the slayer who ran, looked a lot like me.
– Johnny Cash, “Long Black Veil”
For many people the experience of betrayal feels like “the kiss of death.”
“The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.”
Every year, hundreds of thousands of prisoners who otherwise couldn’t provide Christmas gifts for their children do so through Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program. In 2012, some Arizona prisoners decided to give back—in the amount of $3,300.
La Palma Correctional Center, a prison privately operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, houses 3,100 men in several compounds.
On January 30, three young brothers were canoeing the Salmon Creek in Washington state. The river current was strong that day, swollen by a week’s worth of rain, and the boys found themselves unable to control their small craft in the rushing water.
“It’s not going to last very long.”
That’s what everyone said about Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) – a values-based prisoner reentry program drawn from the life and teachings of Christ – when it started in Lino Lakes, Minn. The inmates who signed up met in the basement.
Beth awakened in a sterile hospital room with a few familiar faces crowding over her.
“You’ve been in a coma for two weeks,” her parents told her. “You were in an accident on New Year’s.”
She panicked.
“Was anyone hurt?” she asked.
Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.
– Hebrews 13:3 (CEB)
Prison is a growth industry proclaimed a recent article in Financialtimes.com. “Brazil’s economy might not be growing as fast as it used to, but investors will be given the chance to buy into what remains a true growth industry in Latin America’s largest country – prisons.”
Most people remember Johnny Cash as a legendary country music singer – the iconic “Man in Black” who sang tales of hard living and fighting against the system. Christians are familiar with his story of redemption – a rebel turned evangelist who often used the stage to proclaim the saving grace of God through Jesus and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.
It was Christmas. My husband was in prison. Haranguing thoughts constantly harassed me.
How can I possibly forgive him? How can I ever live this down? How can I go on?
That was twenty-three years ago. Last Sunday, I fingered an Angel Tree ornament.
When God works on the inside of a person, the transformation of their heart inevitably overflows into their life. In the same way, if we are doing God’s work inside the prisons, we will effect change on the outside. What begins behind bars will bear fruit in homes and communities.
Burl Cain, a member of Prison Fellowship’s board of directors and the long-serving warden of Angola Prison, was recently interviewed by the Acton Institute for an article appearing on its website. Since Cain took over Angola in 1995, it’s gone from being “the bloodiest prison in America” to one of the most revolutionary.