Preschoolers AJ and Butchie witnessed a harrowing scene in the courtroom; if it had ended there, these two little boys would have faced a future without hope or promise. But Angel Tree supporters helped rescue them and turn their hearts to their parents.
Michael Bellotti went to prison at the age of 24 for drug charges, but he didn't let his 12-year sentence go to waste.
Tom Douglas is a legendary country music songwriter who was recently inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His musical collaborators include country music stars like Miranda Lambert, John Michael Montgomery, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Collin Raye, and Lady Antebellum.
Marlon is a living testament to second chances.
The following post originally appeared on the Justice Fellowship website.
With the amount of talk about recidivism, there is very little focus on people who do not commit another offense after their release. It is assumed that everyone who committed an offense poses a high threat of committing another one.
Francis Chan, a nationally known author, speaker, and pastor, volunteered to speak at a Prison Fellowship yard event this past Easter weekend.
On Friday, June 13, auto mechanic Bryant Collins was driving down Highway 72 in Georgia when he saw something peculiar on the side of the road.
“I had seen something out of the corner of my eye, and I thought it was a baby,” Collins recounted.
Through Prison Fellowship’s faith-based life-skills classes and reentry programs, God’s people have an open door to share the hope and freedom of Christ with hundreds of thousands of prisoners. As Prison Fellowship ends the fiscal year, will you help us reach incarcerated men and women through a fiscal year-end gift? To give a gift that will prepare prisoners for success on the outside, please visit, www.prisonfellowship.org.
In Larry’s state, a study showed that more than four out of five prisoners who successfully completed one of Prison Fellowship’s intensive reentry programs haven’t returned to prison since release.
At Prison Fellowship, we see many prisoners transformed into new people with changed hearts because they've met Jesus. And when these prisoners are released into society and faced with the temptations of the free world, their new faith is often what helps them resist returning to their former way of life.
On a recent visit to a prison I met a man I’ll call “Tom.”
Tom’s past is typical of many stories I hear. He is a repeat, nonviolent drug offender. By day, on the outside, he was a truck driver, but he also sold drugs to supplement his income.
Hank Green, half of the of the popular “Vlogbrothers” video blog team, was recently asked by a viewer, “If you could do a high-quality animated video about any issue in the world, what would you choose?” Green’s response? “I went with incarceration in America, because it is messed up.”
One of the cruelest facts in criminal justice is that more than 40 percent of ex-prisoners end up being sent back to prison within three years of their release. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right guidance before and after they complete their sentences, former prisoners like Duane can build successful lives on the outside.
Unemployment rates for ex-prisoners like Cassandra and Christopher is usually about 60-75 percent. One study found that job applicants with a criminal background were 50 percent less likely to be called back or offered a position than applicants without a criminal history. But in states and counties where the box has been banned, these statistics are different. In Minneapolis, after the state of Minnesota passed the ban-the-box ordinance in 2007, the number of ex-prisoners who were able to gain employment moved from six percent up to 60 percent.