PRISON FELLOWSHIP BLOG: Hawaii

Beau is an Angel Tree Camping® volunteer who spent four years stationed in Hawaii for the military. For three of those years he served as a mentor at Camp Agape, a summer camp founded as a ministry to prisoners' children. Beau has since taken the model of Camp Agape to start a camp in Arkansas.

Numerous studies have indicated that prisoners have a much greater likelihood of not being re-arrested when they stay in contact with friends and family outside the prison walls. Maintaining a connection to the outside world helps to keep incarcerated men and women focused on a life to which they want to return, and keeps them from adopting a “criminal identity.”

In order to foster such support, having regular interaction between prisoners and their families—either via personal visits or phone calls—is vital.

It was a rainy day in Phoenix when Prison Fellowship President and CEO Jim Liske became part of a human hallway. Join Jim as he recounts his experience at a volunteer event in an Arizona prison housing inmates from Hawaii. Though separated from their loved ones by many miles, these inmates learned that God’s love was always present and available to them – even in a rainy prison yard in Arizona.

I’ve been to lots of prisons, but this past week was a first: I saw the hula being doing behind bars!

I had the privilege of going to Saguaro Correctional Facility to visit inmates who are from Hawaii, but are doing their time in Arizona.

Frontlines is a video series that brings you close to the work of Prison Fellowship through the lens of Prison Fellowship Ministries CEO Jim Liske’s encounters with the inmates and families. In the latest edition, Jim visits “Vince,” a new inmate at a detention center in Hawaii.