Prison Fellowship Ministries

Mission: To encounter Jesus with those impacted by incarceration. Vision: We envision a revival of the Church inside and outside prison that brings justice, mercy, and hope to our culture.

To see all affected by crime reconciled to God, their families, and their communities.

Goal One: Transform prison culture through increased Warden Exchange enrollment and additional Academy program sites, while developing a pathway for Academy graduates to continue their personal transformations.

Goal Two: Increase the network of partnering churches working with Prison Fellowship to strength the connections between men and women in prison and their families and to advocate for justice that restores.

Goal Three: To leverage public and private partnerships to serve the needs of incarcerated men and women, returning citizens and their children, restoring hope and providing pathways for restoration.

We provide all employees access to Linkedin Learning and RightNow Media training libraries. We work with leaders around the organization to assign topics to employees that help them lead wherever they are in the organization. We also created a series of 8 “LEAD PF” webinars featuring outside guest facilitators to provide focus and attention in developing everyone’s leadership potential and influence, with or without formal authority. For managers, we’ve created a “Management Excellence” blended learning curriculum where we curate selections from our online libraries and host webinars with guest experts for a cohort of selected managers to pursue a higher level of competence in managing teams. For our senior leaders, we’ve created a “Leadership Excellence” executive coaching experience through which we match selected participants with an external executive coach to elevate their leadership and its impact for their personal development, team dynamic, and impact to the organization.

COVID-19 caused Prison Fellowship to look again at how we serve those affected by crime and incarceration. While prisons closures affected our in-prison programming, we continued to advocate for a more restorative criminal justice system, support second chances for returning citizens, and work to support and strengthen families with a parent in prison. Our field staff worked closely with departments of correction, creatively continuing to serve them and the people in their care. We launched Floodlight®, bringing positive, high-quality inspirational and educational content available to 420,000 incarcerated viewers in 41 states through in-prison TV systems and tablets. We contacted more than 1,300 chaplains in our network, encouraging them to visit the Storehouse, our online outlet for access to free Bibles, devotionals, and other life-giving resources to better serve incarcerated men and women. We sent over 2,300 care packages to Angel Tree families, each including a $150 grocery gift card, a Bible, an age-appropriate evangelistic booklet, and a sports ball. As they safely sheltered home, we reached Angel Tree children with our first-ever virtual basketball training and gifts purchased through our new Virtual Angel Tree platform. We helped shape Congress’ $2.2 trillion response to the pandemic with the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which led to the release and home confinement of over 7,796 federal prisoners from late March until the fiscal year-end. As COVID-19 impacted Second Chance® Month, our effort each April to unlock brighter futures for returning citizens, we changed prayer walks from physical to virtual. And we saw the White House and 17 governors declare April as Second Chance® Month. In addition, more than 380 businesses, churches, and organizations joined Prison Fellowship in advocating for second chances, and 40 million people from 47 countries saw social media posts with the hashtag #SecondChanceMonth.