A few weeks ago I was in a Florida prison, visiting the residents of a faith-based dorm there. As soon as he saw me, one man named Richard came up to me and gave me a bear hug, even though the prison regulations discourage physical contact between visitors and prisoners.
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.
Last Easter, Prison Fellowship Ministries® President and CEO, Jim Liske, visited the Central Florida Reception, a large prison camp with different wings for prisoners who need hospice care or are too young to be housed with the general population.
In the chapel, Jim preached about Timothy, who grew up without a father, and told the young men, “No one is disqualified from God’s grace.”
The Angel Tree sleigh ride has begun! Three Prison Fellowship interns are traveling from Virginia to Tampa to connect with Angel Tree churches, their volunteers, and families affected by incarceration at Angel Tree parties down the East Coast.
Last Christmas, 551 children of prisoners in Tampa went unsponsored at Christmastime, so this year, Angel Tree is raising awareness for these kids through local marketing efforts.
This Saturday, the Florida Department of Corrections and Sesame Workshop, Sesame Street’s nonprofit organization, will partner together to bring the “Little Children, Big Challenges” project offline and into the real world.
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.”
This past Easter, the newly elected Pope Francis made waves by choosing to spend Maundy Thursday washing the feet of young prisoners in a juvenile detention center in Rome.
The pontiff’s decision to visit those behind bars during Holy Week reflects an Easter tradition that has been observed at Prison Fellowship for 35 years.
Beginning Easter weekend, Prison Fellowship and Provident Film will offer prisoners a chance to view the new film Unconditional, the inspiring story of “Papa Joe” Bradford, a former inmate who is making a difference in the lives of at-risk youth in Nashville, Tennessee.
“We have seamstresses sitting with nothing to do,” a Florida Department of Corrections official told Raeanne Hance, the regional executive director for Prison Fellowship® in the Southeast.
To save money as 2012 wound to a close, the FDOC had prepared to close seven prisons and four work camps.