God In Captivity Hc

Throughout the United States, faith-based prison ministries are flourishing amidst an increasingly punitive system of mass incarceration. These predominantly Christian ministries are concerned with salvaging individual souls: faith-based groups believe that each person is capable of transformation, but only through born-again conversion. While, then, these ministries don't view prisoners as incorrigible, neither are they concerned with the injustice of our prison system. Tanya Erzen spoke with prisoners and members of faith-based ministries in six states, at both male and female penitentiaries, to better understand both the nature of these ministries and their effects. What she discovered raises questions of whether these groups violate the separation of church and state. At the same time, she found that many prison ministries make undeniably positive impacts on the lives of many prisoners: men and women who have no hope of ever leaving prison can achieve personal growth, a sense of community, and a degree of liberation through their participation in these ministries. With both empathy and a critical eye, God in Captivity grapples with the questions of how faith-based programs serve the punitive regime of the prison, and how men and women who live inside use them as a lifeline for self-transformation and dignity.