PRISON FELLOWSHIP BLOG: Advocacy & Reentry

united states attorney general
Prison Fellowship to Incoming Attorney General: Support Justice Reform

Prison Fellowship Vice President for Advocacy and Public Policy Craig DeRoche

Yesterday, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., went before the Senate for his confirmation hearing as Attorney General.

In the past, Sessions expressed skepticism of justice reform. He opposed bipartisan support for expanding rehabilitative programs in federal prison.

By Emily Harris Greene
January 11, 2017
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This Week in Criminal Justice Reform
This Week in Criminal Justice Reform

Justice reform is going to be a hot topic in 2017.

Congress was back in session this past Tuesday. House Speaker Paul Ryan quickly addressed justice reform.

“We intend to pick up where we left off and get moving again on criminal justice reform,” Ryan said during this week’s news briefing.

By Emily Harris Greene
January 6, 2017
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From Incarceration to the Ivy League
From Incarceration to the Ivy League

It’s safe to say Columbia blue suits David Norman much better than his prison jumpsuit ever did.

He sat in the front row with Columbia University’s class of 2016, graduating as the oldest member at age 67.

The Harlem native only had one day of high school under his belt before going to prison for the first time, according to the New York Daily News.

By Emily Andrews
January 6, 2017
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Transformative power
The Transformative Power of God’s Love

A little boy approached James Browning at an Angel Tree® party to ask if he too could have a gift. This child had tagged along with some friends, but unlike the other children, his parents were not incarcerated.

"We could not refuse him and gave him a gift," James says.

By Emily Harris Greene
January 3, 2017
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Year in Review: When Do We Heal

For 40 years, Prison Fellowship® has been going into correctional facilities, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those behind bars, and offering the hope of true transformation. Through the use of Bible-based programming, and with the help of thousands of committed volunteers, lives are being changed, hope is being restored, and darkness is being replaced with the promise of a future.

By Prison Fellowship
December 22, 2016
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Prison Fellowship’s Craig DeRoche Interviewed by Michigan’s FOX 17

“Prisoners are human beings,” Prison Fellowship®’s Craig DeRoche says in his interview with FOX 17 in Michigan. “And they have the same-size hopes and dreams of people on the outside”

On Monday, DeRoche visited the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia County, Michigan.

By Emily Harris Greene
November 15, 2016
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Finding Hope and a Future Through the InnerChange Freedom Initiative

The InnerChange Freedom Initiative® (IFI) was a privately funded program that provided educational, values-based services to prisoners on a voluntary and noncompulsory basis to help prepare them to re-enter the workplace, religious and community life, and family and social relationships. In 2016, the program was renamed the Prison Fellowship Academy®.

By Emily Harris Greene
November 3, 2016
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Stateville Correctional Center's F House
Illinois Closes Infamous Prisons, Opens Doors for Reform

Photo Credit: David Leventi Photography

Sitting in the circular center of Stateville Correctional Center’s F House, a lone watchman gave prisoners the sense that they were all being watched at once.

Built in Joliet, Illinois, in 1922, the infamous roundhouse ranks as one of the oldest and costliest in the state.

By Emily Andrews
November 1, 2016
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