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| 2001 Correctional Population |
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Increasing Incarceration |
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More people are singing the jail house blues than ever
according to the latest findings from the U.S. Department of Justice. One in 32 adults, or
3.1 percent of the nation's adult population were on probation or parole or were held in
prison or jail. The adult correctional population reached a record of almost 6.6 million
men and women at the end of 2001—an increase of 50% from 1990 when the correctional
population was close to 4.4 million. If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an
estimated 1 out of every 20 persons (5.1%) will serve time in a prison during their
lifetime! |
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| Setting the prisoners free? Prison and jail recidivism is
rising as well. Nationally, nearly 70 percent of ex-prisoners are re-arrested within three
years of their release from prison*. In the short term, newly emerging faith-based prison
programs such as Prison Fellowship's (http://www.pfm.org/prisonfellowship/)
InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) (http://www.ifiprison.org) shows promising signs of
dramatically lowering those stats**. In designated prisons in Texas, Iowa and Minnesota,
early findings show that fewer than 14 percent of IFI participants have returned to prison
as repeat offenders. Also helping to reduce recidivism rates is a program called
"Restorative Justice" (http://www.restorativejustice.org) —a systematic response
to wrongdoing that stresses the importance of community involvement and initiative in
responding to and reducing crime, rather than leaving the problem of crime to the
government alone. -JK |
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| * Of the 272,111 persons released from prisons in 15 States
in 1994, an estimated 67.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3
years, 46.9% were reconvicted, and 25.4% re-sentenced to prison for a new crime. |
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** A two-year study documenting the progress of the IFI
program in Texas is slated to
be released in January of 2003. http://www.cjpc.state.tx.us |
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U.S. Correctional Population: 1990-2001
Population Growth
Source: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics |
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CORRECTIONAL
POPULATION
BY TYPE 1990-2001 |
CORRECTIONAL
TYPE |
1990 |
2001 |
| Jail |
.41 |
.63 |
| Parole |
.53 |
.73 |
| Prison |
.74 |
1.33 |
| Probation |
2.67 |
3.93 |
| All Types |
4.35 |
6.59 |
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| NUMBERS IN MILLIONS |
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Ministry Ideas |
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Consider having your church align itself
with a faith-based prisoner program. |
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For example, through InnerChange Freedom Initiative, many churches are
providing mentors for prisoners a full year before their scheduled release and then
continuing with these offenders and their families for several years following. For more
information on this program, contact: www.ifiprison.org/contact.shtml |
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Consider this comment, "The path to restorative justice is walked by those
who realize that we are all undiscovered offenders." Ask yourself this question: How
can my church participate in the restorative justice process to help redeem lives—and
communities? Read more: Restorative Justice Web site: www.restorativejustice.org |
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Read how one New York community used the Restorative Justice process to
bring not only justice, but healing as well: www.pfm.org |
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"When in prison you visited me. . . ." Not everyone in your church
will be called to visit prisons. But, perhaps they can become a pen pal. Find out more
about Prison Fellowship's Pen Pal program: www.pfm.org |
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An interesting study comparing recidivism at two different prisons—one
faith-based and the other vocation-based. The study found that while recidivism was
reduced at both prisons, it was significantly lower at the faith-based prison (36 percent
to 16 percent). www.txcorrections.org/article.pdf |
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© COPYRIGHT 2008 PERCEPT GROUP, INC. |
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