Prison Fellowship Wins First Federal Recidivism Designation After Program Cut Reoffending Below 6%
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 31
Prison Fellowship Wins First Federal Recidivism Designation After Program Cut Reoffending Below 6%
2 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 31
Prison Fellowship became the first nonprofit to receive a Federal Bureau of Prisons evidence-based recidivism reduction designation for its yearlong Prison Fellowship Academy.
Texas prison data underpinned the decision: academy participants posted a recidivism rate below 6% and were more than 50% less likely to return to prison than comparable inmates who did not finish the program.
The designation, enabled by the bipartisan First Step Act, lets eligible federal inmates earn time credits through the program and move earlier into community supervision.
Prison Fellowship said it will use the new status to expand inside the federal system, starting with an academy opening next month at a prison in El Reno, Oklahoma.
Jermaine Wilson, imprisoned at 15 and 19 before becoming a pastor and two-time mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas, was highlighted as a graduate whose life the ministry says was transformed.
Can one faith-based program be the key to reforming the entire federal prison system?
How many thousands of federal inmates could now earn early release through this newly approved program?