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Mark Earley, the president of Prison Fellowship, says new statistics on the number of Americans behind bars shows the need for Christ-centered, biblically based initiatives in correctional facilities. According to the report by the Pew Center on the States, for the first time in history, more than one out of every 100 American adults is in jail or prison.Mark Earley,president of Prison Fellowship, says the steadily growing inmate population shows that the criminal justice system must include the option for Christ-centered rehabilitation programs-programs like Prison Fellowship's InnerChange Freedom Initiative. "We have 700,000 people coming out of prison every year, and 50 percent of them are back in after three years," he points out. "And in this program, where we work with men for two years before they're released and one year after, those men only go back to prison at a rate of eight percent after two years."Bible-based programs offered by Prison Fellowship and by similar ministries, says Earley, are helping reduce the recidivism-or re-arrest rates-among participating inmates. "We're getting dramatic results," he testifies."It's a real testimony to what Jesus can do to change lives and how men's lives are changed when they follow Him." The InnerChange Freedom Initiative has been implemented in prisons in six states, but will cease operation in one Iowa prison later this month under order of a federal court because it was funded by tax dollars. Still, Earley is not discouraged."The programs have been expanding around the United States, "he shares."We're looking forward to continuing to move into what is a great need in American society-and that's the need to bring the hope that Jesus can offer to prisoners behind bars. "Lasting change can only take place, says the ministry president,when an inmate is brought face to face with the need for a relationship withChrist. The Pew report found that the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year.As in the days of Noah....
