Kansas Faith-Based Groups Asked to Help Criminals
State officials want more nonprofit and faith-based groups to work with criminal offenders, hoping they can reduce the number who return to prison for new crimes. Kansas Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts opened a statewide conference Monday on prison ministry by encouraging religious volunteers to increase their efforts to help offenders stay out of prison.
The "Out for Life" conference in Wichita was organized by Prison Fellowship, which promotes prison ministry and church support for offenders after their release. "I really think if we, as a community, as a state, engage people coming out of prison we will see that number go down," Gov. Sam Brownback said. The Kansas Corrections Department says 43 percent of the offenders released from prisons will return for new crimes within three years. Roberts said that efforts like those of Prison Fellowship have had an impact in Kansas and that he would like to see them expand under Brownback, a Roman Catholic who has a strong interest in partnering with faith-based groups in several areas of government service.