Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
During the 1980s and 90s we heard a lot about the "war on crime": getting criminals off the streets with increased spending on law enforcement and tougher sentencing.
And in that sense, the war on crime was a spectacular success. Beginning around 1992, the number of violent crimes in the US started to decrease from its all-time high.
But perhaps we've become the victims of our own success.
Our national prison population has skyrocketed. In 2005, there were more than 2 million men and women in America's prisons and jails. And the price tag for getting criminals off the street has been enormous. Federal, state, and local spending on corrections, including construction and operations, reached nearly $62 billion annually in 2004.
This large investment in our prisons might be justified if the inmates released from them were reformed in heart and habits. But the statistics tell a different and dismal story.
Two out of three released inmates are rearrested within three years, often victimizing more innocents in the process. And those once-low violent crime rates are rising.
The reason is clear. A bipartisan commission on prison safety reported last year that our prisons are breeding grounds for future crime. Overcrowding and lack of educational and rehabilitative programming are all spawning violence behind bars that spills over into our neighborhoods once prisoners are released.
That is why I believe curbing recidivism is the number-one public safety issue today.
At Prison Fellowship, we've discovered one critically important tool for tackling this problem of recidivism: It's one-to-one mentoring — especially mentoring by Christian volunteers. Why? Because Christian mentors are living examples to prisoners of the transforming power and love of Jesus Christ. Mentors can also help prisoners deal with the practical problems of re-entry: finding a job, avoiding the wrong associations, personal accountability, and reintegrating into family and community.
I'm glad to report that right now thousands of church volunteers across the country, just like you, are personally mentoring prisoners and ex-prisoners. They're heeding Jesus' call to visit prisoners, and they are walking alongside ex-prisoners after release.
Another good sign is the recent re-introduction in Congress of the Reducing Recidivism and Second Chance Act (S. 1060/H.R. 1593). It's a bill focused on re-entry, and it's a step in the right direction. The bill, which has broad bi-partisan support, provides grants for innovative programs that help ex-offenders become productive citizens and resist the temptation to re-offend.
You can help. Get involved in mentoring a prisoner. Or visit our Legislative Action Center at JusticeFellowship.org to find out how to urge your Congressman to support this bill.
Fifteen years ago, the question was how to put more criminals behind bars. Now, as 700,000 prisoners are released from prison each year, public safety question number one is: How do we keep them from going back? Indeed, how do we help them transform their lives?
