Empowering any pastor, educator, or lay leader in doing effective prison ministry by providing a thorough inside-out view of prison life.

Something clearly is wrong with the current justice system in which repeat incarceration is high, injustice is rampant, and 25 percent of African-American males can expect to spend time behind bars. Colson's biblical ideas for reform have the potential to turn the system around, keep innocent people out of prison, and give victims some relief.

A traveler's guide for Christians to a foreign land where the fields are ripe for harvest.For most Christians, prison culture is like visiting a foreign land, and the thought of ministering behind bars with those incarcerated is an intimidating prospect. Prison Ministry w ill o ffer you t he empowerment you need as a volunteer, chaplain, pastor, or lay leader in doing effective prison ministry.Of the former edition, the late Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, wrote: "This may well be the definitive book on prison ministry. Fascinating insights about the prison culture and how to reach it. Mandatory reading for everyone incorrections and for Christians who care about the command to visit prison."Providing a thorough "inside-out" view of prison life, Lennie Spitale offers a unique and qualifying vantage for writing about prison culture and prison ministry. As a young man, Spitale was incarcerated several times. Two years after his conversion to Christianity, he began conducting a weekly Bible study in a local jail. This led to full-time prison ministry.Prison Ministry covers areas such as: the emotional challenges of the incarcerated, the environment of fear, the culture of deprivation, friendships, guidelines, dos and don'ts, and many other relevant and essential topics forequipping any individual or church for effective prison ministry.

In this timely work, the bishops open a new dialogue on crime and justice in the United States.

An eye-opening account of how and why evangelical Christian ministries are flourishing in prisons across the United States It is by now well known that the United States’ incarceration rate is the highest in the world. What is not broadly understood is how cash-strapped and overcrowded state and federal prisons are increasingly relying on religious organizations to provide educational and mental health services and to help maintain order. And these religious organizations are overwhelmingly run by nondenominational Protestant Christians who see prisoners as captive audiences. Some twenty thousand of these Evangelical Christian volunteers now run educational programs in over three hundred US prisons, jails, and detention centers. Prison seminary programs are flourishing in states as diverse as Texas and Tennessee, California and Illinois, and almost half of the federal prisons operate or are developing faith-based residential programs. Tanya Erzen gained inside access to many of these programs, spending time with prisoners, wardens, and members of faith-based ministries in six states, at both male and female penitentiaries, to better understand both the nature of these ministries and their effects. What she discovered raises questions about how these ministries and the people who live in prison grapple with the meaning of punishment and redemption, as well as what legal and ethical issues emerge when conservative Christians are the main and sometimes only outside forces in a prison system that no longer offers even the pretense of rehabilitation. Yet Erzen also shows how prison ministries make undeniably positive impacts on the lives of many prisoners: men and women who have no hope of ever leaving prison can achieve personal growth, a sense of community, and a degree of liberation within the confines of their cells. With both empathy and a critical eye, God in Captivity grapples with the questions of how faith-based programs serve the punitive regime of the prison, becoming a method of control behind bars even as prisoners use them as a lifeline for self-transformation and dignity.

Show the incarcerated how to find forgiveness in unforgiving surroundings As the prison population in the United States increases by more than 1,000 inmates each week, prison ministry programs must have a working blueprint for dealing with the shame, humiliation, hate, and loneliness of incarceration at both the adult correctional and juvenile detention/probation levels. Prison Ministry: Hope Behind the Wall demonstrates how a ministry can adapt Latin American Liberation theology to address oppression and bring prisoners into the community of Christ. Author Dennis Pierce, former chaplain at the Joliet Correctional Center in Illinois (where the Fox Network's 2005 Prison Break series is filmed), presents a functioning approach to forgiveness and reconciliation, combining pastoral counseling, Christian education, Bible studies, and worship to help inmates develop self-esteem and an overall feeling of self-worth through compassion and empathy. Prison Ministry: Hope Behind the Wall provides an alternative resource on our prison system for chaplains, pastors, priests, and students working in theology, ethics, or counseling. Instead of the usual descriptive narratives of inmates’ lives or discussions of statistical approaches, this unique book combines a theological model with a viable programmatic approach to confront the oppression of incarceration and reverse its effects. The book looks at the vital issues facing juveniles in the criminal justice system (the transition from county jail to a correctional facility, victimization, rejection, under-stimulation, homosexual rape) and examines the creation of non-threatening niches to address coping structures needed to move toward forgiveness and reconciliation. Prison Ministry: Hope Behind the Wall examines: meeting the incarcerated defining prison’s emotional ethos dealing with human breakdowns oppression in maximum-security prison components of empowerment needed for prison ministry Prison Ministry: Hope Behind the Wall also includes case studies of four inmates, an extensive bibliography, a glossary of prison terms, sample Bible studies, and sermon topics. The book is invaluable for anyone dealing with incarcerated youth and young adults in civilian or military correctional or juvenile detention facilities.

Corrections officials faced with rising populations and shrinking budgets have increasingly welcomed "faith-based" providers offering services at no cost to help meet the needs of inmates. Drawing from three years of on-site research, this book utilizes survey analysis along with life-history interviews of inmates and staff to explore the history, purpose, and functioning of the Inmate Minister program at Louisiana State Penitentiary (aka "Angola"), America’s largest maximum-security prison. This book takes seriously attributions from inmates that faith is helpful for "surviving prison" and explores the implications of religious programming for an American corrections system in crisis, featuring high recidivism, dehumanizing violence, and often draconian punishments. A first-of-its-kind prototype in a quickly expanding policy arena, Angola’s unique Inmate Minister program deploys trained graduates of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in bi-vocational pastoral service roles throughout the prison. Inmates lead their own congregations and serve in lay-ministry capacities in hospice, cell block visitation, delivery of familial death notifications to fellow inmates, "sidewalk counseling" and tier ministry, officiating inmate funerals, and delivering "care packages" to indigent prisoners. Life-history interviews uncover deep-level change in self-identity corresponding with a growing body of research on identity change and religiously motivated desistance. The concluding chapter addresses concerns regarding the First Amendment, the dysfunctional state of U.S. corrections, and directions for future research.

What's the most courageous thing you've ever done?

Each chapter in this book explores the story of a different person in the Bible who was imprisoned, and considers the unique way that God was at work in their situation. The purpose of this book is to encourage people who are currently incarcerated by showing them how God has worked through the difcult situation of imprisonment many times before.

Good News for the Captives addresses the concerns and needs of the incarcerated, such as prayer, suffering, comfort, guidance and spiritual growth. Each lesson contains a theme with related Scriptures, quotes from modern and ancient voices, Scriptural commentary, and questions to provoke discussion. The lessons can be photocopied to distribute to the participants. The Appendix includes prayer suggestions, images for bookmarks, Psalms by theme, tips for young people entering prison, and other items which can be photocopied and distributed.