A global clutch of inmates is relying on faith to reshape their prison culture as they repay their past crimes and rebuild their lives, an evangelical ministry group says.
From Australia to Zimbabwe, Prison Fellowship Ministries has noted a decline in recidivism among participants in its programs aimed at education, mentorship and religious instruction.
“We have the largest global footprint of faith-based impact organizations,” said Andy Corley, CEO of Prison Fellowship International, which administers the U.S.-based ministries’ programs in 122 countries.
Researchers at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion have teamed with PFI to assess the impact of programs such as The Prisoner’s Journey, an in-prison rehabilitation initiative, and The Sycamore Tree Project, an eight-week workshop that brings offenders and victims together to understand crime’s ripple effects and learn accountability.
The researchers found that participants reported increased self-control, reduced depression and anxiety — and a 68% decrease in violent incidents:
• At Roumieh Prison in Lebanon, the PFI initiatives have helped reduce violence in the facility, where a significant percentage of inmates graduate from the programs each year. Prison authorities now consider program completion when deciding early release.
• Monrovia Central Prison in Liberia has cited The Prisoner’s Journey for reducing violence among gangs, improving inmate-officer relationships and reducing the recidivism rate from about 35% to 10%.
• Faith-based rehabilitation worked so well in The Gambia that the Sycamore Tree Project had to shut down because there weren’t enough new prisoners to enroll. Previously, 95% of inmates reoffended, but after STP, 100% of the 2018 graduates stayed out of prison.
PFI attributes its success to its “20% Model,” which asserts that small but committed groups within institutions will drive major cultural shifts.
Prison Fellowship was founded in 1976 by former Nixon White House aide Chuck Colson, who was imprisoned for his role in the Watergate scandal.
“Seeing and interacting with men in prison led him to commit himself to prison work for the rest of his life,” Mr. Corley said.
By 1979, the prison ministry had expanded beyond the United States to the rest of the globe.
“We don’t limit what the national ministries are each able to do,” Mr. Corley said. “They make the culturally appropriate decisions. If it’s difficult to go in with some of our programming for whatever reason — whether it’s a different worldview, legislative restrictions, or government-run [interventions] — the national ministry decides how best to serve incarcerated individuals, their families and victims.”
He pointed to Australia as an example, where PFI has adjusted its approach to uniquely suit Aboriginal communities.
“[Aborigines] absorb information through picture and art form,” Mr. Corley said. “So rather than altering the core message of transformation and accountability, we focus on communicating in a way that makes sense within that culture. In Australia, that means using Aboriginal artwork. In other places, the approach might be entirely different.”
Mr. Corley insists that breaking cycles of crime takes a mix of efforts — from helping prisoners’ children build resilience and pushing for smarter justice policies to rallying communities to support reintegration.
But according to a new PFI white paper, two rehabilitation standards particularly stand out as crucial to prisoners’ success. Prisoners must:
• Develop positive social relationships that offer support and a sense of belonging as they transition from prison back to their families and communities.
• Form new, positive self-identities that replace the negative ones of their past.
Governments are taking notice. PFI recently announced plans to establish a Center of Excellence in partnership with Pepperdine University and the Colombian National Penitentiary and Prison Institute.
“That is going to be a really interesting deep dive in Colombia around faith-based interventions inside prison and outside prison, but actually linking all of that to what is going on with the recidivism rate,” Mr. Corley said. “That’s a super interesting project, and the government of Columbia is even involved in that, because they’re so interested in what the results are.”
• Emma Ayers can be reached at eayers@washingtontimes.com.