PRISON FELLOWSHIP BLOG: Advocacy & Reentry

Amid all the sound and fury emanating from Cleveland and the Republican National Convention this week, a smaller gathering took place, focusing on some of the successes taking place in criminal justice reform on the state level. And while it might not have drawn the same attention as what was occurring on the convention floor, the positive stories of rehabilitation coming from that forum offer hope for the future and the promise of better things to come.

Tim Montgomery has always been fast.

A track legend in his hometown of Gaffney, South Carolina, Montgomery established himself as a sprinter from an early age. In college, he ran a sub-10-second 100 meters, only missing out on setting a world junior record when it was discovered the track was three centimeters too short.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Increasingly, the great concern of legislators and departments of correction has been finding better ways to reduce recidivism—that tendency of former prisoners to relapse into criminal behavior.

The written word. It has the muscle to enlarge minds.

To touch hearts.

To educate and inspire.

That’s why Mike Oliver collects and organizes books each week that will be sent to Florida prisoners.

But there’s another reason.

Five years ago, Oliver, 72, was incarcerated and knows how good it felt to receive reading material while serving time.

Efforts to bring about criminal justice reforms on the federal level have hit upon a bit of a rough patch in recent weeks. With the focus in Washington shifting toward the general elections in November, some members of Congress have determined that maintaining a “tough on crime” approach to criminal justice is beneficial to their reelection efforts, while others have opted to back-burner the issue until their campaigns have concluded.

Scan the radio dial on any summer road trip, and you will find no shortage of talk radio programming. Whether conservative, liberal, or somewhere in-between, there are always plenty of people who are willing to share their opinions and their experiences about the events and issues of the day.

Dozens of prisoners in Florence, Arizona, just can’t wait to get up for work in the morning.

The minimum-security prisoners pair up with mustangs and burros at Florence State Prison for a unique job opportunity. In an effort to protect local rangelands and teach men behind bars a new trade, the Arizona DOC partnered with the Bureau of Land Management to form the Wild Horse Inmate Program (WHIP).

The need to be heard. It’s a core craving for all humanity. But for those behind prison bars, voices are mostly muffled, or at least, dismissed.

Because of New York artist Lauren Adelman and juvenile defender Francine Sherman, voices from prison are being heard and appreciated in the form of artistic expression.