PRISON FELLOWSHIP BLOG

A conference going on in Phoenix this week is working to create solutions to help keep ex-prisoners from re-entering the system.

You may squirm at the idea that a man or woman just out of prison is now living down the street. The idea that thousands of men and women are leaving prison and entering your community may disquiet you. It would be easier not to have to consider the uncomfortable issue of prisoners re-entering society.

Michigan’s prison system has undergone a culture change from locking up law breakers for as long as possible to being more selective about whom to put behind bars, state Corrections Director Patricia Caruso told officials at a prisoner re-entry conference Tuesday.

Today more than 2.3 million men and women are incarcerated in the U.S. In the last 20 years, the prison population has nearly tripled, until now one of every 99.1 adults is behind bars.

But they don’t stay there. According to the U.

Prisons are the only businesses that succeed by failing.

In the United States, failed corrections systems cost taxpayers $68 billion a year and return approximately 50 percent of ex-offenders back to prison within three years. Any other business that failed half the time would close its doors.

Aaron pulled the trigger that would tear away his freedom and change the course of his life—as well as the lives of everyone he knew, even those he hadn't yet met.

Prison rape is an uncomfortable subject rarely covered in newspapers, a laugh line on late-night television. But the reality is that rape in our prisons is a national scandal.

Nationwide, as many as 60 percent of ex-prisoners are unemployed one year after their release from prison. This signals pending disaster—not only for the ex-prisoners and their families, but also for the broader community.

Nationwide, as many as 60 percent of ex-prisoners are unemployed one year after their release from prison.

Jesus promises to make all things new. But radical transformation seldom takes place overnight. Here’s one example of how a church came alongside an ex-prisoner through his baby steps toward lasting change.

“When he said that, I settled down,” says Pastor Ball, and he launched into his new prison ministry.When

This isn’t what I signed up for. I just wanted to be a helper—with a job that sounded safe, with someone else in charge. A few months ago, when I expressed my desire to work with Prison Fellowship, I wanted to be helpful but didn’t know exactly what I’d be doing.