Prison Fellowship

Prison Fellowship (PF) is the largest prison outreach and criminal justice reform organization in the world. Its programs reach prisoners, ex-prisoners, and families of prisoners in all 50 states and, through Prison Fellowship International, in 110 countries worldwide. Based on the premise that at the heart of every criminal act is a destructive decision, PF volunteers and staff equip churches and communities to help prisoners, ex-prisoners, and youth at risk reject crime and become contributing members of their families and communities. To that end, PF's mission is to seek the transformation of prisoners and their reconciliation to God, family, and community through the power and truth of Jesus Christ, and the transformation of believers as they apply biblical thinking to all of life, enabling them to transform their communities through the grace and truth of Jesus Christ.

Founder

Born out of the Watergate crisis, PFM was founded by Charles W. Colson in 1976 as “Prison Fellowship.” During Watergate, Colson’s life was changed forever when he accepted Christ as Savior. After his incarceration for a Watergate-related offense, Colson was moved to share with prisoners the very faith that sustained him during his incarceration. Within a few short years, Prison Fellowship had become the world’s largest Christian ministry to prisoners and their families.

During the 1980s, Colson grew more and more convinced that America’s increasingly relativistic, post-modern culture was fueling the rapid growth of the nation’s crime rates and prison populations. In 1992, Colson began a daily radio commentary called “BreakPoint,” which addresses current events and trends from a Christian worldview perspective. Today, through radio commentaries, curricula, the Centurions program, and robust web content, BreakPoint seeks to equip Christians with a thoroughly biblical worldview so they can begin to impact and transform the culture.

Mission

PF targets the root causes of crime by applying the principles of restorative justice (restoring criminals, victims, and the community) through comprehensive, faith-based programs. These programs include in-prison programs (mentoring, educational training, biblical training), Operation Starting Line (in-prison high profile evangelism), ex-prisoner transitional care (church-based aftercare and mentoring), InnerChange Freedom Initiative (full-time Christian prison programs), and Angel Tree (reaching half a million prisoners' children through a Christmas outreach, Christian camping, and mentoring).

Angel Tree

Angel Tree is a ministry that reaches out to the children of inmates and their families with the love of Christ. It seeks to transform the lives of these families and to reconcile them to their Heavenly Father and each other. In Matthew 18:5 Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.” There are children right in your community who are among the most at-risk children in the nation. An estimated 2.3 million children have a mom or dad in prison. Angel Tree provides an opportunity to connect with those families and begin ministering to them at Christmas and then continue through a variety of year-round ministry opportunities.

Operation Starting Line

Operation Starting Line (OSL) is a network of national, regional and state ministries and organizations working together to support prisoners, their families and the prison community through evangelism, discipleship and collaboration.

The collaboration presently includes ministries and organizations that vary in size and focus, lending resources and expertise to both Operation Starting Line and America’s prisons.

“Operation Starting Line” (OSL) began as “Project Macedonia” in North Carolina. Aaron Johnson, Secretary of the Department of Corrections, invited Prison Fellowship to bring revival to the prisons of North Carolina. Its success opened the way in 1992 for Prison Fellowship to take in-prison evangelistic programs called “Starting Line” across the nation. This evolved into Operation Starting Line in 2000 as other ministries joined Prison Fellowship in ministering to prisoners. Since 2000, over 700,000 prisoners have been reached through OSL.

The mission of OSL is “to seek the transformation of prisoners and their reconciliation to God, family and community through the power and truth of Jesus Christ. We operate as a collaborative network of ministries working together for greater impact.”

InnerChange Freedom Initiative

The InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) is a proven, voluntary and holistic values-based Reentry Program. It seeks the development of the whole person – spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and physically. The spiritual formation aspect of the program is based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.

IFI was started by Prison Fellowship (PF) in 1997. In 1999, IFI became a separate 501(c) (3) and now contracts with PF for staffing and support services. IFI operates in prisons in cooperation with the state. The state continues to provide food, clothing, shelter and security to the inmates while IFI staff provides the intensive program.

This mission of IFI is to create and maintain an environment where change may take place and to foster respect for law and the rights of others.

IFI's unique plan of restoration and progressive programming begins 18 to 24 months before an inmate is released. The program continues for an additional 12 months of mentoring and support once the inmate has returned to the community. Inmates volunteer for the program and must meet several criteria before they are accepted.

IFI stresses personal responsibility, the value of education and work, care of persons and property and the opportunity for a new life. IFI consists of three phases: IFI is not a prison, but provides programming for prisoners to help them transform their lives and re-enter society successfully.

Justice Fellowship

Justice Fellowship is the criminal justice reform arm of PFM. Justice Fellowship works with key state and federal policymakers to reform the criminal justice system according to the principles of restorative justice found in the Bible. In some jurisdictions, Justice Fellowship advances a single piece of legislation. In other places, our approach is more comprehensive as we look at system-wide solutions to the problems of crime. Our work sometimes places us in an advisory or technical assistance role to an official commission on some criminal justice subject.

Prison Fellowship Websites

[http://www.pfm.org PFM]
[http://www.prisonfellowship.org Prison Fellowship]
[http://www.angeltree.org Angel Tree]
[http://www.breakpoint.org Break Point]
[http://www.wilberforce.org Wilberforce]
[http://www.ifiprison.org InnerChange Freedom Initiative]
[http://www.operationstartingline.net Operation Starting Line]
[http://www.justicefellowship.org Justice Fellowship]