PRISON FELLOWSHIP BLOG: Advocacy & Reentry

For the vast majority of inmates, prison cells are not their permanent address. Most prisoners will serve their sentences and then return back into our communities. What kind of neighbors will they be?

If current trends continue, over half of them will be rearrested and back in prison within three years.

To keep the state afloat in treacherous economic seas, Arizona has already dumped significant public programs and services overboard. But even while battered by a $2.6 billion budget deficit, we must not sacrifice public safety to the wind and the waves.

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.

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.

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.

What makes prisoners more likely to re-offend when they get out of prison? Is it the lack of a job? Hanging around with friends from the “old neighborhood”? Low self-esteem?

Topping the list of complaints that many prisoners have is not the snoring of their cellmates or the quality of the food, but the difficulty and expense of making telephone calls.

Cell phones are forbidden—and rightly so—and most prisoners have only a few hours a day to use prison payphones.

Creating Criminal Justice Reform One State at a Time

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.

Soon after Pat Nolan was released from a California State Prison, he found himself seated at a deli with some friends. Nolan, a 15-year veteran of the California State Assembly, and four-time Republican Assembly leader, had served 25 months after being targeted for a campaign contribution he received as part of an FBI sting.

Prison Fellowship says the U.S. has done a great job of getting criminals off the street.  What we haven’t done a good job of, says the ministry, is getting criminals ready to come back onto the street.  The president of Prison Fellowship shares with Phil Fleischman about a program that challenges the Church to help former inmates transition back into society.

Before joining the staff of Prison Fellowship in 2007, Patti Tasa was a vibrant volunteer—serving inside prison for three years, then another three years as county coordinator for one of Prison Fellowship’s Aftercare Teams. Her long-standing mentoring relationship with ex-prisoner Tina Huber  has given her valuable experience and insights to share with other mentors.

Prison Fellowship and the ACLU demand end to censoring of materials sent to a Virginia prison.

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.