For the first time in four decades, prison populations are declining and politicians have reached the consensus that mass imprisonment is no longer sustainable. At this unique moment in the history of corrections, the opportunity has emerged to discuss in meaningful ways how best to shape efforts to control crime and to intervene effectively with offenders. This breakthrough book brings together established correctional scholars to imagine what this prison future might entail. Each scholar uses his or her expertise to craft—in an accessible way for students to read—a blueprint for how to create a new penology along a particular theme. For example, one contributor writes about how to use existing research expertise to create a prison that is therapeutic and another provides insight on how to create a “feminist” prison. In the final chapter the editors pull together the “lessons learned” in a cohesive, comprehensive essay.

The Faith-Based Prison

The Faith-Based Prison

The faith-based prison
Byron R. Johnson

Editors' Introduction

In today's context, fervent religious belief is often identified with right-wing politics. Phrases such as “The Moral Majority” and “Christian Conservatives” inspire the image of fundamentalists whose view of the sacred includes opposing women's reproductive rights, gun control, and “socialist” welfare programs. However true this view might be, it can obscure another facet of religious faith: an emphasis on a loving God who asks believers to help save the wayward and the wicked.

At his crucifixion, for example, Jesus Christ was bounded on each side by a condemned criminal. At this most crucial moment in Christian theology—the very time when Christ was to sacrifice his life for humankind's benefit—it ...

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