Prison ministry volunteers Dave and Judy McElyea reflect on decades of volunteer experience and how faith-based organizations can make a positive impact on prisons.
In June, six women graduated from Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), an intensive faith-based program, at Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee. One of the graduates shared how participating in the program has changed her entire perspective:
“Before coming to IFI, I was a self-centered, egocentric, selfish woman.
Ron Zifer serves as the program manager for Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freedom Initiative in Texas.
Time and again I’m asked, “Where does the real change come for the men in the InnerChange Freedom Initiative program?” Many want to know if there is a specific class or program really changes these men.
The newly announced president and CEO of Prison Fellowship, James Ackerman, was recently interviewed on WHO Radio in Des Moines, Iowa. During the program, Ackerman described to host Jamie Johnson the work of Prison Fellowship, and how he came to be involved with prison ministry.
Ron Zifer serves as the program manager for Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freedom Initiative in Texas.
When men arrive at the Carol S. Vance Unit to participate in the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, they come with a variety of horrible states of mind.
In today’s confusing society it is no wonder our children, spouses, and other family members and friends end up in trouble or even prison. Call me ‘old school,’ but throughout a large portion of a young person’s developmental years they live in this confusing world where there are no absolutes.
By the time he was 15 years old, Arthur Medina was a runaway living on the streets in Texas. It wasn’t long before he turned to crime just to survive.
Art earned his living stealing cars and running them across the border.
This past Sunday was a time of great celebration at IFI. Eighteen formerly incarcerated men returned to the Carol Vance unit to graduate before their families and other program participants.
Last year, Bob celebrated his 90th birthday inside Minnesota's only level five maximum-security prison, Oak Park Heights. Bob has led Bible studies there since the late 1990s.
A version of this article originally appeared on the Justice Fellowship website.
Prisoners participating in an InnerChange Freedom Initiative class.
It’s “boring” to work in prison units where faith-based programs thrive.
According to Justice Fellowship Policy Analyst Jesse Wiese, who served a sentence in an Iowa prison, corrections officers often complained that it was boring to be in a prison unit filled with men and women who were involved in religious programs that taught morality—because there wasn’t much discipline to enforce.
Please pray that Steve will continue to live his life for Jesus, and that God will give him many more opportunities to point others who are still in prison to the hope that he’s found.
Thanks to Prison Fellowship partners, men and women like Fernando are experiencing bright futures!
Participants in the Pathway to Freedom program. (Photo courtesy Pathway to Freedom.)
It is an unfortunate and sad reality that we live in a world with limited resources. Sometimes that means that meaningful programs and projects are discontinued for a want of funding or manpower.
Society often discounts the contributions a former prisoner can make to his or her community, but at Prison Fellowship, we know that rehabilitated men and women who have been transformed by God have so much to offer if given the opportunity.