Remember Those in Prison
Photo Credit: David Leventi Photography
Sitting in the circular center of Stateville Correctional Center’s F House, a lone watchman gave prisoners the sense that they were all being watched at once.
Built in Joliet, Illinois, in 1922, the infamous roundhouse ranks as one of the oldest and costliest in the state.
Members of the tour: (Clockwise, from left) Jacob Moore, Mary Johnson, Arthur Hallett, Brian Ganhs, Charleston Day, and Sonnie Day
This past February, Prison Fellowship celebrated Black History Month with a tour of African American artists who led an evangelism campaign in Illinois.
More than 750,000 people in our prison system have a disability, reports RespectAbility, a group that advocates for those with disabilities.
Of those, more than half a million have some sort of cognitive impairment; at least 250,000 have mobility issues; and 140,000 have some kind of vision loss.
Across the country, jails and prisons have begun implementing a new way for families and friends to stay in touch with their incarcerated loved ones: video conferencing. Heres how it works: the “visitor” would log in to a video chat from their home or private room at the facility (depending on how the prison or jail operates) and be connected to the prisoner via a screen.
He remembers it like it was yesterday.
The day Zeeke Griffin’s dad was arrested was the day of 7th-grade basketball try-outs—the day his dad had been planning and preparing him for all year.
“I figured he’d just be home in the afternoon,” Zeeke recalls.
This Thanksgiving, Beth will be celebrating how God has continued to transform her and use her during this year since her release.
What does it take to be a prison warden?
The answer to that question is rapidly shifting.
“Corrections has changed,” explains Warden Chris Hendry, Martin Correctional Institution (Indiantown, Florida). “We’re not ‘prison bosses’ anymore. We’re not in the same environment we used to be.”
As concert goers were serenaded by Casting Crowns, Newsboys, Crowder, and many more Christian artists, they also got to witness a very touching moment.
When many Americans enter their 50s and 60s, they start looking toward retirement—that season of life when there is freedom to travel, spend extra time with the grandkids, or devote more hours to volunteering or pursuing a dream. But for those growing older behind bars, the graying years don’t look much different than all the rest—just that they are spent with increased dependency and cost to the prison system.
In the very first month in his official capacity, Pope Francis made a landmark visit to a juvenile detention facility where he washed and kissed the feet of youth. During his upcoming visit to the U.S., he will be visiting a prison again, this time in Philadelphia.