Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
This year, an estimated 650,000 men and women will be released from prison across the United States. Because the vast majority of them have been simply warehoused, they are not ready for life on the outside. Indeed, many of them will come out more anti-social than when they went in.
Little wonder, then, that two-thirds of those released are re-arrested within three years.
It doesn’t have to be this way. I’ve told you about the InnerChange Freedom Initiative launched by Prison Fellowship, which has proven to greatly increase a prisoner’s chance of succeeding on the outside. Why? Because of the positive opportunity prisoners are given to change their lives. It is but one example of many other things that the government, in cooperation with the non-profit sector, can do to make a difference.
These things are the subject of a very important piece of legislation currently before Congress: the Second Chance Act.
The bill’s goal is to reduce the number of those who return to prison and, thus, increase public safety. It addresses the needs of prisoners in key areas: such as mentoring, strengthening families, jobs, housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment.
By helping to create “common sense solutions” to these problems, the Second Chance Act will give offenders a better chance to rebuild their lives and strengthen their families. And it gives communities a chance to improve public safety.
Mentoring is key, and this bill promotes connecting released inmates with mentors from local churches and community groups. The hope is that these mentors will help them in their transition to freedom and hold them accountable for making the right choices.
The Second Chance Act represents an important shift from the emphasis on warehousing inmates toward developing relationships between offenders and caring, moral adults. Instead of simply killing time in prison, prisoners will acquire skills and, more importantly, the moral framework needed to succeed on the outside.
Believe it or not, this comprehensive approach has attracted broad bipartisan support: Republicans like Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Rick Santorum (R-Penn.), and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) have joined with Democrats like Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Joe Biden (D-Del.) to sponsor the bill. And it has the strong support of the president.
Despite this impressive support, the bill faces an uphill battle. Why? Not because of any opposition — there isn’t any — but because it may be overshadowed by all of the other more politicized and publicized issues facing Congress this fall.
Remember that in Matthew 25, Jesus reminds us that to visit a prisoner is to visit Him.
And as the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky once said, “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” I would add that what happens outside those prison walls says a lot about us, too.
(This update courtesy of the Breakpoint with Chuck Colson.)
