Should prison be a Hell on Earth to deter criminals? It doesn’t work. Research shows that most criminals never think they’ll get caught. Instead, prisons should help reform nonviolent offenders to become productive, non-reoffending members of society.

Not every nonviolent offender deserves a break, but US prisons are overcrowded, waste taxpayer money, and fail to integrate offenders back to society. Recidivism rates are as high as 75%. The fact is that not all prisoners are alike. Some deserve extra attention. Some deserve extra leniency. They all deserve a system that is shown to work with effective metrics and oversight.

The Center for Prison Reform is more than just an advocacy group. We are a coalition of like-minded partners that support prison reform at every stage of the process:

• A think tank of leading academic and author experts in public policy
• A nationwide alliance of non-profit, political, and faith-based groups
• A resource list of books, research papers, demographic surveys, and polls
• A lobby that educates politicians and advocates in public forums
• An investigative team that rates politicians’ records and prisons’ effectiveness
• A support network for prisons that need to learn best practices
• A matchmaker for prisons and courts that need help from non-profits and faith-based groups

Learn how you can make a difference:

• As a coalition partner
• As a volunteer
• As a donor
• As a grassroots activist