NCJ Number
163680
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Comments by Alabama prison wardens, correctional officers, and inmates are used to confirm the effectiveness of the program of the United Prison Ministries International (UPMI) in changing the behaviors of inmates by instructing them in and introducing them to the content and dynamics of the Christian religion.
Abstract
The comments of all those interviewed have one theme: inmate vocational training, secular education, and social skills training by themselves are insufficient to achieve long-term or even short-term changes in inmate behavior, absent a religious commitment (notably under the tenets of the Christian faith) to positive behavioral values. The UPMI program is explained by the narrator to include instruction in the Christian faith by inmates to other inmates. Many of those who volunteer to distribute UPMI materials and teach them to inmates are ex-inmates whose behavior and attitudes have been changed due to the UPMI program. In addition to providing instruction and support to inmates while in prison, UPMI also coordinates support for Christian inmates after their release through their involvement in Christian churches in the community. The UPMI program is described to be completely voluntary, both for the inmates who seek instruction under the program and those who provide the instruction. In addition to the effectiveness of the program in producing positive changes in inmates' behavior, it is presented as being cost-effective for departments of corrections, since no State money is used in support of the program.