The Archdiocese of Los Angeles in California (USA) promotes pastoral accompaniment for people who have been in prison so that they can reintegrate into society and heal the wounds of their inner soul.
The Partnership for Re-Entry Program (PREP) is a Restorative Justice ministry in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
PREP seeks to improve the odds of success with the reintegration of parolees back into the community.
The program's goals are to “transform the individual to become productive members of society, reducing the populations of our jails and prisons to help lessen the financial burden on taxpayers, while making our community safer and stronger”.
“We have been grateful in our program to work with the persons who were incarcerated for the longer time, lifers with a strong sentence, and to see the transformation that they go through in their work of healing.” said PREP founder, Sister Mary Sean Hodges OP.
Furthermore, Sr Mary Sean Hodges OP explained “we have run many courses that help the healing of the inner soul. Courses that relate to the wounds that they have from their youth, in their family at younger ages, to work on anger management, domestic violence, confronting criminal thinking, and victim awareness”.
Finally, the American nun stressed that “We have provided housing so that there is security upon release, and we have also been able to provide aftercare to make sure that there is a sustainable future when they return from prison. We are just extremely grateful for being able to do this work.
More information: partnership for reentry program