On January 20, 2012 the Florida Department of Corrections had their very first “Family Embraced”/ Agape Feast event. It took place at South Bay Correctional Facility. Prison Fellowship, along with One Hope and several volunteers, hosted the event. Fifty people from the TUMI/Pre-Release dorm were allowed to invite two adult family members and two children to this function.
Filling in for Chuck Colson on his daily Breakpoint radio commentary, Prison Fellowship CEO Jim Liske discusses a unique program in Hawaii that seeks to sanction non-violent offenders with sentences that are certain, swift, and fair. The program, called “Project HOPE” (which stands for “Hawaii Opportunity Probation with Enforcement”) has concluded that the certainty of punishment is more important than the severity of that punishment when attempting to prevent repeat offenses.
About 70 percent of corporations have policies against hiring ex-offenders. But according to this article from Business Insider, there are benefits to hiring former prisoners that make you wonder if these organization should be a little more flexible. From “4 Reasons Why Your Small Business Should Hire An Ex-Convict”:
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When imagining what prisoners do with the the time they spend behind bars, there are a number of images that usually come to mind. Some people envision the incarcerated writing and reading letters from loved ones outside the prison walls. Others might see these prisoners lifting weights in the prison yard, excercising away the remainder of their sentence.
Last week’s Justice Fellowship e-newsletter featured some encouraging data from a recent study on prison visitation and recidivism. Pat Nolan writes that the research essentially proves the “basic premise on which Prison Fellowship was founded: that visiting prisoners can significantly improve their reintroduction to the community after their release.”
An amazing story in the Toronto Star recounts the chance meeting of a man convicted on drug and gun charges and the judge who gave him a second chance at life. The resulting encounter is a great example of grace, mercy, and redemption.
Over 2.2 million juveniles are arrested each year in America. That’s equivalent to arresting the average student body population at 3,116 high schools each year. Yes, you read correctly, I said “high schools.” To arrest this many teens is dangerous to society.
The subject of convicted felons losing their voting rights for life was raised during a recent Republican Presidential debate in South Carolina. In a spirited exchange, the candidates clearly defined their positions. Some stated that felons should never have their voting rights restored, even after they have completed their in prison sentences.
The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that it is providing a total of $20 million dollars to assist prisioner rehabilitation programs in finding employment for ex-prisoners.
Seventeen separate rehabilitation programs will each receive $1.21 million in assistance, with the goal of reintegrating former prisoners into society and keeping them from falling back into old habits and patterns.
I want to personally thank the volunteers and donors that participated in our 2011 Angel Tree Christmas program. Because of you, almost 400,000 prisoners’ children received a gift from their incarcerated parent and great hope through the Gospel.
That’s almost 400,000 children who feel closer to their absent mom or dad, closer to a local church, and closer to Jesus Christ!
We lock away too many juvenile offenders for too long and it’s costing our kids and our money. Our goal must be to provide real and lasting opportunities for change in these teens who commit crimes.
While Justice Fellowship works for juveniles to be accountable for crimes committed, we also understand that warehousing juveniles away from society, and in some cases with adults, does more harm than good.
When evaluating the faults and shortcomings of our own organizations, systems, and institutions here in the United States, sometimes it helps to hear from voices outside our borders. A new set of eyes can help us to see our own problems in a different light, and facts and figures that have become “part of the furniture” take on new importance when we see how others respond to them after hearing them for the first time.
As we walked across the open yard of Lino Lakes Correctional Facility in Minnesota, a cold wind whipped by, as one would expect north of the Twin Cities. The yard was isolated and drab, with brown grass showing through a skiff of early-winter snow.
A recent news story out of New Zealand notes with sadness the passing of Ray Turkington, who at the age of 95 was the longest-serving prison volunteer in that nation.
From 1946 until 2008, Mr. Turkington made weekly trips to prisons in New Zealand.
According to a report recently released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the overall US prison population has dropped year over year for the first time in four decades. That’s good news for families, communities and overburdened correctional systems, but we still have a long way to go.