Charles Colson and the Inner-Change Freedom Initiative
Charles Colson's advancement of prison ministries through PFP and the concept of restorative justice has done. But more needs to be done. IFI Freedom Initiative (IFI) is a proven faith-based Reentry Program that was started by Prison Fellowship (PF) in 1997.
The Biblical imagery of God setting captives free resonates with those who know they are in bonds for their wrongs—and yet they are accepted in Christ on the basis of faith, repentance, and receiving the implanted Word that saves souls. The message of the Gospel is one of hope and redemption—and for those who accept the finished work of the risen Savior comes realization that God has wiped the slate clean of our sin debt. God's justice demands punishment. But God's grace is something given to someone not deserved.
The old way of doing things in penology is tried and failed... the Liberal Democrat way of coddling the criminal, victimizing them, denying the need for punishment and blaming society is a failure. Likewise, the familiar tough-on-crime, law-and-order Republican way of letting them rot in jail after convicted and stimulating crime through entrapment and other dubious tactics to secure convictions doesn't work either. The criminal justice system needs to embrace the restorative justice model. Crime prevention needs to weigh on restorative justice, as peace officers often have to meditate disputes that hardly necessitate punishment of the parties involved.
More importantly, the church needs to minister to the troubled souls therein. I firmly believe Christianity offers something that secular humanist psychologists can never offer prisoners—redemption and hope. God has come to set the captives free. Though, some may spend a lifetime in prison justly and must not mistake their suffering for wrong as suffering for right, that sinful man can find redemption in Christ, just as the thief on the Cross did.
The Biblical imagery of God setting captives free resonates with those who know they are in bonds for their wrongs—and yet they are accepted in Christ on the basis of faith, repentance, and receiving the implanted Word that saves souls. The message of the Gospel is one of hope and redemption—and for those who accept the finished work of the risen Savior comes realization that God has wiped the slate clean of our sin debt. God's justice demands punishment. But God's grace is something given to someone not deserved.
The old way of doing things in penology is tried and failed... the Liberal Democrat way of coddling the criminal, victimizing them, denying the need for punishment and blaming society is a failure. Likewise, the familiar tough-on-crime, law-and-order Republican way of letting them rot in jail after convicted and stimulating crime through entrapment and other dubious tactics to secure convictions doesn't work either. The criminal justice system needs to embrace the restorative justice model. Crime prevention needs to weigh on restorative justice, as peace officers often have to meditate disputes that hardly necessitate punishment of the parties involved.
More importantly, the church needs to minister to the troubled souls therein. I firmly believe Christianity offers something that secular humanist psychologists can never offer prisoners—redemption and hope. God has come to set the captives free. Though, some may spend a lifetime in prison justly and must not mistake their suffering for wrong as suffering for right, that sinful man can find redemption in Christ, just as the thief on the Cross did.
