From the Pit to the Pulpit: Our Journeys from Incarceration to Redemption

As we consider what it means to embody the values of love, redemption, forgiveness, and mercy, we must examine the ways in which the criminal legal system operates in antithesis to those values. The United States has more people currently incarcerated than any other country, has the most people under supervision through probation and parole, is only one of two countries that still uses a cash bail system that subjects hundreds of thousands of legally innocent people to languish in jails simply because they can’t afford bail, and continues to punish people long after they have been released from prison.

To build and maintain healthy communities, we must focus on restoration and redemption, not punishment and revenge.

Please join the Southern Center for Human Rights for a dynamic conversation with pastors who are testaments to what is possible when faith, redemption, and restoration are at the root of reentry. “From the Pit to the Pulpit” will address what people of faith can and should do to ensure that those currently incarcerated and those returning home from jail and prison are able to reintegrate successfully, how communities of faith can eliminate social stigmas associated with having a criminal record, what the church’s role and response to crime, punishment, and social justice should be, and how to exercise putting faith over fear.

Moderator

Waleisah Wilson
Client Services Advocate
Southern Center for Human Rights