Category: Prisons

Follow the money: Brazil’s prisons generate income, say pastoral workers

by bcadmin | Sep 27, 2022 | Brazil, Brazilian Conference of National Bishops, Catholic News Service, Church in the Americas, News, prison ministry, prison reform, Prisoners, Prisons | 0 |

In Brazil, like most countries, prison ministry involves visiting and praying with inmates, but as Brazil’s prisons increasingly are treated as moneymakers, the ministry also means advocating for the rights of prisoners.

Pope tells prisoners: God always forgives!

by bcadmin | Apr 15, 2022 | Foot-washing, Holy Thursday, Holy Week, Last Supper, lead, News, Pope Francis, Prisoners, Prisons, Vatican | 0 |

In yet another sign of things going back to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis on Thursday led the Mass of the Last Supper in a prison in the outskirts of Rome where he washed the feet of 12 inmates.

Evangelicals a rising force inside Argentine prisons

by bcadmin | Dec 28, 2021 | Argentina, Associated Press, Church in the Americas, Evangelicals, News, prison ministry, Prisoners, Prisons | 0 |

Over the past 20 years, Argentine prison authorities have encouraged, to one extent or another, the creation of units effectively run by evangelical inmates.

New book recounts how Alabama death sentence was overturned

by bcadmin | Oct 9, 2021 | Alabama, Books, Catholic News Service, Church in the US, criminal justice, Death penalty, News, Prisons | 0 |

The case may be old, but the issues are still relevant, which is why Donald Cameron Clark Jr. wrote “Summary Judgment,” a book detailing how he got an Alabama man’s death sentence overturned.

Pope calls for more humane prison life after Ecuador deaths

by bcadmin | Oct 3, 2021 | Associated Press, Ecuador, News, Pope Francis, prison justice, prison reform, Prisons, St. Peter's Square, Sunday Angelus, Vatican | 0 |

Pope Francis on Sunday called for “more humane” prison life in the wake of bloodshed in a prison in Ecuador in which 118 people died and dozens more were injured.

Catholic leaders in Brazil object to plan to replace prison chaplains with radio stations

by bcadmin | Jun 14, 2021 | Brazil, Brazilian Conference of National Bishops, Catholic Church, Chaplains, Church in the Americas, Jair Bolsonaro, lead, News, prison ministry, Prisons | 0 |

Catholic leaders in Brazil say a recent decision by the National Penitentiary Department (Depen) to replace in-person chaplain visits to prisoners with ecumenical closed circuit radio stations is a direct attack to the Catholic Church and its Prison Pastoral Commission.

Archdiocese sues Wisconsin over prisoner visit restrictions

by bcadmin | May 7, 2021 | Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Associated Press, Catholic Church, Church in the US, News, prison ministry, Prisons, Religious Freedom, religious liberty, Wisconsin | 0 |

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed a lawsuit Friday demanding state corrections officials relax COVID-19 protocols and allow ministers to visit inmates.

Bishop: Reports of women prisoners being abused are ‘disgusting, shameful’

by bcadmin | Feb 26, 2021 | Bishop James Checchio, Catholic Church, Catholic News Service, Church in the US, Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, News, Prison, prison justice, prison ministry, prison reform, Prisoners, Prisons | 0 |

The women housed at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, the only women’s prison in the state of New Jersey, seem to have the cards stacked against them.

As pandemic spreads in Brazil’s prisons, inmates complain of torture

by bcadmin | Jan 30, 2021 | Brazil, Brazilian Conference of National Bishops, Catholic Church, Church in the Americas, COVID-19 pandemic, lead, News, Prison, prison justice, prison ministry, Prisoners, Prisons, torture | 0 |

After Brazil’s prisons imposed restrictive measures to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, complaints of torture in correctional facilities increased by 70 percent, according to the nation’s bishops.

Amid virus lockdowns, prison ministry groups had to adapt

by bcadmin | Aug 30, 2020 | Associated Press, Chaplains, Church in the US, Coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, News, prison ministry, Prisoners, Prisons | 0 |

Prison chaplains are seeking new methods of ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prisons as pandemic super-spreaders: Latin American church raises alarm

by bcadmin | Aug 13, 2020 | Brazil, Brazilian Conference of National Bishops, Catholic News Service, Church in the Americas, Coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID-19 coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, News, prison justice, prison ministry, Prisoners, Prisons | 0 |

Ignoring early warnings and pleas from bishops’ commissions for prison ministry, countries across Latin America are seeing rising COVID-19 infection rates and deaths among inmates in their generally overcrowded prisons.

Catholic leaders decry prisoners’ exposure to COVID-19 during pandemic

by bcadmin | May 24, 2020 | Catholic Church, Catholic Mobilizing Network, Catholic News Service, Church in the US, Coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, News, prison justice, prison ministry, Prisoners, Prisons | 0 |

A May 19 statement by 14 Catholic leaders, including five bishops, decried the danger people in prison are exposed to during the coronavirus pandemic.