Prison Fellowship International


Prison Fellowship International is a christian international non-governmental organisation of national prison fellowship organizations from 117 countries. The headquarters is in Washington D.C., United States. The president is Andy Corley.

History

, a former politician jailed for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, became a Christian in 1973, while incarcerated for seven months. In 1976, he founded Prison Fellowship USA, a Christian organization that aims to support prisoners. In November 1978, a meeting was held in Great Britain for the formation of a British antenna and to give an international dimension to the organization. Prison Fellowship International is officially founded in 1979. In 2012, the NGO works in 110 countries. In 2018, the NGO works in 117 countries.

Programs

Bible studies

For prisoners, groups of Bible studies are offered.

Assisting children and families of prisoners

Prison Fellowship International runs a child sponsorship program which aims to help needy children of prisoners with support in education and health care.
The Angel Tree Program is an outreach to the children of prisoners at Christmas. Members of local churches volunteer to sponsor these children by purchasing a gift based on information gathered by PF volunteers and prison chaplains.

Restorative justice

Through the PFI Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, PFI seeks to promote the principles and practices of restorative justice—an approach to justice focusing on healing broken relationships, repairing the damage done by crime, and restoring the offender to a meaningful role in society.
The Centre operates Restorative Justice Online and provides information and consultation to national PF organizations, governments, the United Nations, and other organizations.
The PF restorative justice program is known as either the Sycamore Tree Project or Umuvumu Tree Project. Notably, in Rwanda, in response to the genocide of 1994, Prison Fellowship introduced the Umuvumu Tree Project through 11,000 traditional courts, resulting in more than 32,000 genocide offenders confessing to their crimes. 23 PF national ministries ran the STP in 2009.

Promoting faith-based prisons

Based on APAC, the Brazilian model of faith-based prison communities, national PF organizations are adapting their own APAC projects. These faith-based prison communities are presently operating in 16 countries.

Consultation

As an NGO, PFI maintains Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council and is an active participant in the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.