Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Chaplain religious education instruction to inmates in a Florida prison. (CNS photo/Daron Dean)

“The church in the United States has a moral and ethical imperative to protect human dignity and must address the problem of mass incarceration in our nation,” the leaders of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. said in a statement issued on Feb. 7 in Newark, N.J. The coalition includes the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The statement continues, “We recognize that the legacy of the dehumanization of people of color has borne lasting effects in current-day society” and cites slavery and Jim Crow laws as examples of “subjugation” until civil rights laws passed nearly 50 years ago tried to right it. “We see the vestiges of these systems of human control in America’s current system of mass incarceration.” Christian Churches Together added, “These systems are not only affecting African-Americans. They are now impacting all people of color, the poor, the marginalized, and the immigrant in the United States.”

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
David Newman
11 years ago
As a Man who spent many years Incarcerated "guilty of all said offenses" I believe the public could be far better served with re-thinking some of our approaches to the problem of "mass" incarceration our system is broken and lost in "Red Tape" that makes it almost impossible for the ideas people are attempting to implement and the resistance by Correctional Officials to open up to these attempts is without excuse, seemingly job security is more important to there line of action. I have little doubt that God's grace alone allowed me to find away out of this endless cycle of despair. This helped to foster the story that seems to be helping many that have been able to get the chance to read it to God be all the glory and honor. http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Matter-Confession-David-Newman-ebook/dp/B00GSVJVC8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385052634&sr=8-1&keywords=the+heart+of+the+matter+a+confession

The latest from america

Pope Francis greets Professor Joseph Stiglitz at the "Debt Crisis in the Global South" meeting at the Vatican in June 2024 (Vatican Media)
An interview on economics and Catholic social teaching with Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winning economist and a professor at Columbia University.
Kevin ClarkeApril 03, 2025
Lesson one: I had to buy more stamps.
Valerie SchultzApril 03, 2025
Celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea should give new energy to evangelization efforts, a new document from the International Theological Commission says.
In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell walk us through the pontiff’s recovery, including “slight improvements” in his speech.
Inside the VaticanApril 03, 2025