PRISON FELLOWSHIP BLOG: COVID-19

The prison population is one of society’s vulnerable communities.

Prison Fellowship is proud to release our Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Report. The COVID-19 pandemic tried to shake us, but we found new ways to continue to serve all of those affected by crime and incarceration.

Check in with us each week for an update on how the COVID-19 is affecting Prison Fellowship and correctional facilities - including our regularly updated map of impact on prisons in each state.

Even in a regular non-pandemic year, the separation from family can impact the mental health of men and women behind bars during the holidays.

“I want so bad to help in the same way that I was helped.” Reentry can bring a whole new set of problems for returning citizens. Prison Fellowship Academy provides prisoners with the tools they need for reentry.

From the ministry’s first-ever virtual Easter celebration to socially distanced Hope Events safely conducted outside the prison fence, Prison Fellowship is finding new ways to continue to bring the hope of the Gospel to incarcerated men and women.

“I was trapped in my own mindset. I was trapped into thinking that I had to be something that society said I had to be, instead of being what God said I was.”

It’s election year, but not all Americans are eligible to vote. Felony disenfranchisement continues to create second-class citizens out of returning neighbors struggling to rebuild their lives after paying their debt to society.

“Although COVID-19 may have closed the doors of America's prisons, it couldn't shut out the hope of the Gospel.” Through Floodlight, a new Prison Fellowship program, inspirational and educational content is available to prisons across the nation.

Heroes Act includes additional funding for reentry, COVID-19 response, and allows entrepreneurs with a criminal past access to the Paycheck Protection Program.