Prisoners struggle with restoration and personal transformation through orthodox prison programs hence may find solace in faith-based correction programs. According to studies, 600000 prisoners are released yearly. Nearly 70% suffer from drug and alcohol problems. Around two-thirds are rearrested within the first three years. Faith-based correction program is an 18-month program that operates in five Federal Bureau of Prisons offering a means towards the objective of personal restoration and rehabilitation while decreasing overall recidivism for offenders. However, the program has its own disadvantages.
The main advantage of the program is that it is trusted by the community and thus the prisoners who pass under the program are accepted back in society with little discrimination. The prisoners are taught leadership skill making them reliable members in society who can even partake leadership positions. The institutions access financial support from the government and even members of the community making it's running very effective (Fallers, 2011). The program is open to the community and cultural anchors where the prisoners are involved in transformation processes and even take part in activities that can improve their lives like carpentry so that they can fit in the community after the period of rehabilitation is over.
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However, there two sides to every coin and faith-based prison programs are no exemption. Some prisoners are not too enthusiastic on the issue and thus give a hard time in rehabilitation claiming the program goes against their beliefs (Sasha, 2014). Also, the programs are not located in all federal facilities and thus other regions may lack the rehabilitation services for the prisons. On the other hand, some prisoners' still face discrimination and stigma from the community despite passing through the program while others fall back to their previous ways.
Clearly, faith-based prison programs have a lot of benefit to the community but further research is required since the results derived from propensity-score matching are not highly credible.
References
Fallers, W. ((2011). Prison Religion: Faith-Based Reform and the Constitution. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Sasha, V.(2014). Evaluating faith-based prisons: a new study. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/03/26-faith-based-prisons-a-new-study/?utm_term=.795dbcd95523&norediret=on
