As prison officials seek to improve the way they prepare inmates to return home, they are increasingly turning to the faith community as partners in changing inmates’ lives. You don’t have to be a believer to know that religious volunteers add a factor that corrections cannot - a continuing relationship, based on both love and accountability.
An increasing number of studies have found that the “faith factor” is an important part of rehabilitation. Joe Califano, former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and now President of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, in his recent book, High Society, wrote, “Much evidence suggests that spirituality and participation in religious groups can play a significant role in the rehabilitation of many inmates. Inmates and treatment providers often cite spirituality (God or a Higher Power) as a factor in getting and staying sober, coping with prison life, successfully reentering the community, and ending criminal conduct…Several studies suggest a link between religion and reductions in deviant behavior.”
In their report Faith Matters: Race/Ethnicity, Religion and Substance Abuse, the Annie E. Casey Foundation reported that, “Given the tremendous negative impact of substance abuse, researchers, policy makers and practitioners look to identify factors that protect people from initiating the use of drugs and help people who have become addicted to recover. A growing body of research suggests that religion is an important protective factor against substance use, and that religion may help people who are trying to recover from substance abuse by helping them find meaning, direction and purpose in life.”
As an increasing number of scientific studies find that religious beliefs are inversely related to a variety of deviant behaviors including alcohol and drug use, and criminal activity, many corrections officials are looking to religious organizations to help inmates develop a moral compass as a mechanism of self‑control that facilitates inmate rehabilitation and reentry.
Unfortunately, many current prison programs do not deal with the moral aspect of crime and avoid all discussion of faith and morality. In doing so, those programs ignore a significant factor that science has proven to be very effective at changing criminals’ behavior. If inmates are to live healthy, productive, law-abiding lives when they return to their communities, we must equip them with moral standards to live up to, and a worldview that explains why they should do so.
At its root, crime is a moral problem. Offenders make bad moral choices that result in harm to their victims. To break the cycle of crime, we must address this immoral behavior. There aren’t enough police officers to stop everyone tempted to do something bad from doing it; inmates must rely on inner restraint to keep from harming others.
Most inmates are focused on themselves, their needs and desires. Religion teaches them that they are not the center of the universe and that they have obligations to society. Job training and education alone won’t transform an inmate from a criminal into a law-abiding citizen. For some inmates such programs merely make them smarter, more sophisticated criminals. It is a changed heart that can transform a prisoner, and it is the faith-community that can partner with corrections to accomplish that.
Every prison should offer inmates the option of faith-based programming for life skills, drug treatment, parenting, anger management and reentry planning. Obviously, the prisons must also offer secular alternatives for those who choose not to participate in a religiously focused program. However, the reverse is truly the problem – most offenders are not offered a faith-based curriculum. While they may participate in Bible studies, that is on their own time and does not count toward their required drug and reentry programming. That situation needs to change, and many enlightened corrections administrators are working to provide side-by-side secular and religious alternatives in programs.
Despite the science that shows the effectiveness of religion in changing inmates’ lives, some officials are reluctant to partner with faith-based groups. This reluctance results from no animus to religion, but rather a misunderstanding of the law surrounding cooperation between government and religious organizations. To dispel these misconceptions, the National Institute of Corrections is sponsoring a satellite/internet broadcast, A Model for Social Justice: Collaboration Between Faith-Based and Community Organizations and Corrections, on September 12 at Noon – 3 PM, Eastern time.
As the NIC has pointed out, “Collaboration between faith-based organizations, community organizations, and corrections has proven to be a cost-effective way to meet agency needs and bring much needed services to offenders. This unique partnership also helps to promote social justice, reduce recidivism, and increase public safety.
The broadcast will feature experts discussing:
- Leveraging money through partnerships.
- Dispelling the myths surrounding a partnership between faith-based and community organizations and corrections.
- Creating a solution-based partnership that helps to improves lives and fosters community safety.
- Navigating the request for proposal (RFP) process and associated legal terms.
- Developing a "4th hour" action plan to integrate and expand upon the information presented.
Several of the experts that will be part of the NIC broadcast led a very informative breakout session at the at the American Correctional Association meeting in Kansas City last month. They provided essential information that will be helpful to every corrections leader and agency that is working to reduce recidivism. I strongly urge you to sign up for the broadcast.
The NIC also has an excellent website “Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in Corrections”. It is wonderful that the NIC, under the leadership of Morris Thigpen understands the importance of collaboration between corrections and the faith community, and is working hard to equip corrections leaders to develop those partnerships. Justice Fellowship’s Resource Page also has many resources on the effectiveness of faith-based programs.
Also, I hope you will participate in the upcoming 6th Annual Prisoner Reentry Conference, Healing the Heart, Healing the Community, October 26-28 in Minneapolis, MN. The conference brings together leading corrections officials, faith-based groups and non-profits from around the country to share their experiences. This conference gets larger and larger each year under the very capable leadership of Joe Williams. If there is only one conference you can participate in this year, this is the one you should attend. I’ll be there, and hope you will, too.
In His service,
Pat Nolan
Vice President, Prison Fellowship |
