The man who once carried a gun and lived in fear now arms himself with a Bible, spreading the Gospel instead of drugs, and though the tattoos remain on his skin, it’s clear that God has put His own stamp much deeper – on Ronnie’s heart.
I couldn’t believe my ears.
I was at a prison where the warden was giving several other wardens and me a tour of the grounds. We met his staff and then sat down with about two dozen prisoners enrolled in Prisoners to Pastors, a seminary-level training program that prepares Jesus-following inmates to be leaders behind bars and when they return to the community.
“I remember not being able to communicate how I felt,” Rita says. “I just knew I didn’t feel right because I didn’t have a father.”
We all have a deep need to understand the Gospel in terms that are meaningful to us – that resonate in the deepest part of who we are.
A significant minority of men and women incarcerated in the United States speak Spanish as their primary language.
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Jeffery Hopper has a picture of himself and his daughter, Amanda, sitting on the couch when she was just a little girl.
“She adored me. I was her world,” Jeffery remembers. “I destroyed it by going to prison.”
“We’ll All Go Down Together”Jeffery grew up in Port Neches, Texas, where he adopted a criminal lifestyle early on.
This Friday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on a rule regarding prison phone rates. The FCC is considering limiting the cost of phone calls between prisoners and their families. The meeting will be held on August 9 at 10:30 AM.
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Every year, over 700,000 inmates are released from state and federal prisons across the United States. The joy of their new freedom, however, is tempered by the realization that substantial roadblocks remain to successful reintegration. The stigma of being an ex-prisoner makes it hard to find regular employment or housing, and the temptation to return to old friends and old habits is always present.
What impact does imprisoning young offenders have on their development and maturation? A new study by economists Anna Aizer and Joseph J. Doyle, Jr. indicates that juvenile detention is not the deterrent desired by law enforcement officials, but actually increases the odds of recidivism while reducing the possibility that they will graduate from high school.
South Bay, Fla.—A lot had happened in the last 24 months. There had been miracles, hard times, challenges, and growth. As 36 students in the Prisoners to Pastors program – along with 14 men completing the faith-based pre-release program – prepared to graduate, they sat under a handmade banner that read, “The road is paved.”
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Prison Fellowship is pleased to announce the expansion of its “Prisoners to Pastors” program to the Cristina Melton Crain Prison in Gatesville, Texas. Forty inmates will be participating in the program, which provides seminary-level education and training in prisons.
Facilitated by Prison Fellowship volunteers and in cooperation with The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI) of World Impact, the Prisoners to Pastors program offers former lawbreakers the chance to become leaders of the Church behind bars and after they return to the community.
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At a graduation ceremony for students completing Prison Fellowship’s four-year Prisoners to Pastors program, a tearful dad confessed to me, “I thought my son would never complete anything but a prison sentence!”
We were at South Bay Correctional Institution in Florida.
Prison can be a dark place, full of dangerous personalities and corrosive influences. Inmates who want to follow Christ must fight against a tide that threatens to push them back into old behaviors and thought patterns. Other inmates might be curious about Jesus, but, cynical about the value of “religion,” they balk at the idea of attending a chapel service.
"I delivered my baby girl, shackled to a hospital bed, in a vulnerable position exposed to all, without family and only corrections officers by my side."
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I am not sure what prevented me from committing suicide. I had traveled a long, lonely road. I let circumstances from my childhood and young adult life boil inside me, until I felt angry at the whole world. I had thought that if I helped everyone around me and did everything they asked of me, they would like me, and I would find the happiness I craved.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of prisoners who otherwise couldn’t provide Christmas gifts for their children do so through Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program. In 2012, some Arizona prisoners decided to give back—in the amount of $3,300.
La Palma Correctional Center, a prison privately operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, houses 3,100 men in several compounds.