Alternative to Prison Community, Essay Example

InnerChange Freedom Initiative: A Prison Alternative Program

The Innerchange Freedom Initiative, a work begun in 1997, is a nonprofit, private ministry that helps prisoners transition from prison to society. It began in Texas and now has expanded to several states, offering life skills, mentoring, religious instruction, education, and work for prisoners who apply as volunteers and are accepted into its concentrated efforts for rehabilitation. Although the program caters to Christian inmates, it also has helped Jews and Muslims.

Inmates who gain acceptance are moved into the same housing unit where they are given values and faith-based teaching. Usually, participants are within two years of the end of their prison terms before they become a part of InnerChange. They link with a community mentor and a local faith group that relates with them for a full year after their prison release. The efforts of the Initiative are aimed toward life-long change in inmate value systems. The work fosters moral transformation and life skills that allow prisoners to reenter society and reunite with their families.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (Langan & Levin, 2002) reports that 67 percent of inmates in the United States are re-arrested after their prison release and that more than half are re-incarcerated within three years of their release. The Texas Policy Council (Levin, 2003) reports that of the inmates who participated in the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, only eight percent returned to prison by the second anniversary of their release while twenty percent of eligible non-participants were re-incarcerated during the same time period. This translates to InnerChange participants being 60 percent less likely to re-enter Texas prisons than similar inmates who were not exposed to the teachings of InnerChange.

The University of Pennsylvania has reported similar results. Its study of InnerChange prisoners concluded that only 18 percent of the ones who completed all of the pre-release and post-release components of the program were re-arrested while 35 percent of others did from a matched comparison group. This translates to InnerChange grads being 50% less likely to be re-arrested (Johnson & Larson, 2003).

This suggests that the InnerChange Freedom Initiative helps many inmates to break the cycle of crime so that they might become productive citizens who obey laws and contribute to their communities. One of the distinctive features of InnerChange is its community involvement of volunteers who mentor and provide numerous assistance measures free of charge. The State of Texas contributes to the work of the ministry, but other states where this work takes place do not at this time.

The mission statement says that InnerChange seeks to “create and maintain a prison environment that fosters respect for God’s laws and rights of others, and to encourage the spiritual and moral regeneration of prisoners” (Colson, 2010). Inmates who meet certain criteria may apply. They must be in a minimum security custodial situation, be male, speak English, have no significant medical issues, not be a sex offender, have prison files examined closely, and complete a 30 day self-study program. About one in five applicants are selected.

There are three levels of the program. The first level takes a year to complete. There is an orientation period. There is heavy emphasis on Biblical education: Meeting Jesus, Growing in Jesus, Submitting to Jesus, and Following Jesus. Inmates meet with mentors from the community for two hours each week. Inmates offer symbolic acts of restitution for their crimes. Some earn their GED.

The second level lasts from six to twelve months. Participants perform about six hours (weekly) of community service work off-site on things like Habitat for Humanity projects. Members continue on support groups with a focus on leadership development. Christian education continues. Some work with substance abuse prevention and re-entry skills.  The third and final level is the aftercare program that lasts for up to a year after release. Local churches pitch with a continuum of opportunities for the former inmates. This is because they feel that their entrance into society must be deliberate and careful. Los of work is done to help the participant find a suitable job.

Personally, I think that this is a great program. The only thing that I do not like about it is its obvious trend of attracting state dollars to fund an overt religious program. This, to me, is a violation of our time-honored doctrine in this country of the separation of church and state.

Works Cited

Colson, Charles. (2010). “About Us.” The Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Retrieved 27 Apr 2010 from http://www.colsoncenter.org/the-center/about-us.

Johnson, Byron, & Larson, David. “The InnerChange Freedom Initiative: A Preliminary Evaluation of a Faith-Based Prison Program.” Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society: The University of Pennsylvania. CRRUCS Report (2003)

Langan, Patrick, & Levin, David. “Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994.” Bureau of  Justice Statistics, NCJ 193427, 02 Jun (2002).

Levin, Marc. “Restorative Justice in Texas: Past, Present, and Future.” Center for  Effective Justice: Texas Public Policy Foundation, RR10-2005.