Old Tennessee Jail

Original BCCX

Copyright Google 2014

2013 Addition

Copyright Google 2014

Bledsoe County Correctional• Total project cost: $208 million• Annual operating budget: $40M• Estimated new jobs: 425• Total square footage: 430,000• Minimum-security beds: 300• Medium-security beds: 1,024• Close-custody beds: 192• Maximum-security beds: 24• Total new prison capacity: 1,540• Total capacity: 2,500

Entrance to Original Prison

Data taken from Times Free Press

3,283 jails and 2,236 prisons in the United States

Facilities

● 2.2 million people behind bars● 4.8 million people on probation or parole

1 IN 34 AMERICAN ADULTS is either behind bars, on probation, or on parole

United States Incarceration

...lots of time to think and do nothing.

● The average cost to house a prisoner for a year is $30,000, for a total cost of 68 billion dollars per year, well over $200 per ca pita.

$68,000,000,000total annual cost to house our prisoners

Cost

A Remarkable Decline in Crime

● Violent crime has dropped to almost half in the last 20 years: from 747 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in 1994 to only 366 per 100,000 in 2013.

● The tough on crime laws since the 1980s have filled our prisons with mostly nonviolent offenders.

● Today people are locked up more often, and longer, for less serious crimes which traditionally have been dealt with in less costly and more effective ways.

Overcrowding in California

● As an example, California's prisons are designed to hold 80,000 prisoners, but for 11 years, they were running at almost double that capacity.

● In 2011 the Supreme Court ordered the state to decrease their prison population to 137.5% (110,000).

Crowded California Prison by California Department of Corrections

Proposition 47

● Proposition 47 has reclassified some felonies as misdemeanors.● 40,000 felony convictions are likely to be reduced to misdemeanors.● 7,000 inmates will be able to petition for an early release.● These changes will save California an estimated hundreds of millions of

dollars each year. Some of these funds will be used for education and rehabilitation.

Arrests Per Day in the USA

According to FBI.gov, law enforcements made 12 million arrests in the year 2012.

● 521,196 were for violent crimes ● 1,646,212 were for property crimes

33,416 ARRESTS/DAY

Security

Security

Valley State PrisonChowchilla, CA

Food in Prison

● A lot of prisoners like to complain about the foodanything from “bland” to “horrible.”

● Prisoners who have money can buy junk food from the commissary. They come up with clever ways to mix food.

● Pretzel burrito● Orange chicken● Sweet and sour rice

● Nutraloaf—a food product used for punishment in many American prisons.

Food

Nutraloaf

● Most single person cells have two people in them. Minimum security prisoners live in dorms with bunk beds, often with 50 or more in one dorm.

● Commodes and showers line the wall with zero privacy and guards watching all the time; there are both male and female guards in the prisons.

● Overcrowding and lack of privacy mess with your mind.

NO DIGNITY IN PRISON

Privacy

● 7' x 9' concrete box with a small window (or none), a mat for a bed, a sink, and a commode.

● Average time in solitary confinement is 5 years.● Allowed 1 hour outside per day, but usually in a cage.● Some have the lights on 24 hours a day; others

have no light.

80,000 PRISONERS IN ISOLATION

Time in the Hole(Solitary Confinement)

● 1 in 3 deaths in jails are suicide.● Suicides in local jails account for 29% of all suicides in the United States.● Teenagers and white males over 50 are the highest risk.● Local jail ministry is a great opportunity for churches.

SUICIDE IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN AMERICAN JAILS

Suicide in Prison

● A 50-year-old that has been in prison for over twenty years has the equivalent age of a 65-year-old outside of prison.

● LSP in Angola alone houses 5,000 prisoners and estimates show that 85% of them will die there.

● More than 75 hospice programs where prisoners take care of the elderly.

Growing Old in Prison

Photo by Lori Waselchuk

● Angola prison sits on 18,000 acres and is one of the largest max prisons.

● They have a thriving hospice program staffed by prisoners.

● 22-acres of burial plots where many of them will be buried.

Angola Hospice

● In 1973, there were just 134 inmates on death row throughout the country; now we have 3,088 (current October 2013).

● Some prisoners are on death row for as long as 20 years.● California has the highest rate of death row prisoners, but no executions

planned for the next 2 years.

3,088 ON DEATH ROWand most of them don't know when they will die

Death Row

James is a 62 year old man who was on death row for 18.5 years. Got resentenced and took 150 years.

● 61,423 juveniles (usually a person under 18) locked up.● If they were riding bicycles single file down a road it would stretch out

for about 70 miles.

2,500 JUVENILES are serving life sentences without parole

Children in Prison

PAUL GINGERICH has life sentence for attending the murder of his buddy's stepfather

Why Literature?Written words are powerful:

●Leverage. ●Influence. ●Liberty.

Tens of thousands of people have asked us to speak into their lives:● “I read a copy of your Loaves & Fishes magazine. May I please get my own

subscription?”● “With your help I found Jesus, and I want to learn more about Him.”● “Send me any books and literature that can help

me in my walk with the Lord.”● “Can you send me a Bible study course?”● “I'd like to have a friend to write to.”● “Please send me a Bible.”

The Open Door

There is a serious lack of discipleship in the prisons.

● According to a 2008 Pew Report,* more than four in ten offenders nationwide return to state prison within three years of their release.

● Proper discipleship and support greatly reduces this number.

*www.pewtrusts.org

The Revolving Door of Our Prisons

● Free discipleship magazine for prisoners.

● Our Goal:

● Point prisoners to Jesus Christ.

● Help them experience the hope and freedom of a daily walk with Him.

The Answer of Loaves & Fishes

● What is the Gospel? Jesus came to cure our sin problem, not just give us a bus ticket to heaven.

● Victory over sin. God wants to give us power to live above anger, bitterness, and defeat.

● The fear of God. When we have a healthy fear of God, we are prepared to receive His grace.

● Relationships that work. God wants parents to raise their children with vision and purpose to become useful men and women in His Kingdom.

A Teaching Tool

From the Editor

Family Teaching

Creation Article

Crossword Puzzle

Loaves & Fishes is a means of fellowship for prisoners to share poems, testimonies, and short writings.

● Believers in prison are encouraged because they are not alone.

● This spiritual outlet motivates prisoners to express their faith and build up other believers in prison.

“Loaves & Fishes has given me hope here in jail. It's comforting to hear about fellow-believers keeping their faith even in prison.”

Mark Blackford, Mountain View, AR

A Means of Fellowship

Prisoner Material

Prisoner Material

“I found [Loaves & Fishes] to be exceptional in both the quality of the booklet itself, as well as its content.… I have diligently searched for resources of this nature for inmates and must say I have seen nothing on par with Loaves & Fishes. I pray for your continued success.”Benjamin Johnson, ADC – Grimes Unit, AR

Feedback From Prisoners

“I have seen your fine publication here in Attica from time to time. It is very good—first class! Readable and attractive. Keep up the good work. It is the best publication I’ve seen.”Mark Chapman, Attica, NY

Feedback From Prisoners

“I love your book. I came across it when I was locked up. I am no longer on parole. But your book has truly helped me in my walk with the Lord, and it truly helped me when I was locked up and in my dark times. Please, I beg you, I would love to still receive them.”

Dwight DeShawn Davis

Feedback From Prisoners

The Demand for Loaves & Fishes

1,500 Subscriber Locations

Loaves & Fishes Distribution● Bulk Subscribers: 412● Single Subscribers: 2,877● Locations: 1,480● Distribution: 91,689 copies

We are looking for churches and individuals who will partner with us

to publish Loaves & Fishes on a regular basis.

● Pray. We need protection and wisdom and courage.

● Give. It takes about $25,000 to produce and mail one issue of Loaves & Fishes magazine.

Average cost to produce and mail one copy of

Loaves & Fishes to a prisoner is 27 cents.

How to Join the Team

Issue 27Shipping Soon

Our Goal: Loaves & Fishes four times per year.● It takes $25,000 to publish one issue of Loaves & Fishes.● 275 people x $1/day = $100,000/yr● 34 churches x $250/mo = $100,000/yr

The platform is in place. The audience is waiting.

WILL YOU HELP US DISCIPLE THESE PRISONERS who have asked us to help them walk with God?

$1/day Makes This Achievable

“‘I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

...And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these

my brothers, you did it to me.’”Matthew 25:36ESV