How faith-based organizations are transforming our nation's incarceration system

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Washington Examiner:

At the National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump declared that the nation's fate depends on the opportunities available to society's most vulnerable: "America will succeed so long as our most vulnerable citizens—and we have some that are so vulnerable—have a path to success."

 

Although the president did not single out any group, incarcerated citizens and their families undoubtedly rank among the most vulnerable in our nation. The oft-repeated statistics were confirmed (once again) in a recent report by the Prison Policy Initiative: The United States of America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. We are home to only 5 percent of the world's population, but nearly 25 percent of the world's prison population—some 2.3 million imprisoned individuals.

 

Recidivism rates are equally grim: The U.S. Sentencing Commission reports that of a group of over 25,000 federal offenders released in 2005, nearly half (49.3 percent) were re-arrested, and just under a quarter (24.6 percent) were re-incarcerated. These rates are profoundly damaging to minority groups in general, and the black community in particular: Blacks are incarcerated in state prison at 5 times the rate of white incarceration. Disparities are particularly severe for drug crimes, despite data showing that both groups use drugs at roughly the same rate.