The Biblical, Theological and Historical Foundations of Mass Incarceration

Chapter 3 provides the biblical, theological, and historical support for developing a church-based, post-release re-entry program that utilizes a successful former offender to mentor recently released men from Prince George’s County, Maryland into successful pro-social lifestyles. This chapter has three sections: (1) biblical foundations, (2) theological foundations, and (3) historical foundations. In the biblical foundations’ section, the primary focus is on the redemptive plan of God as revealed through the Scriptures. Biblical Righteousness and forgiveness, God’s provision of justice and mercy, prophets as prisoners i.e. Moses, Joseph, Paul.
The redemptive plan looks at the historical recording of the relationship between God and humanity, a relationship that has required God to forgive repeatedly and to offer chance after chance to a people who have trespassed, sinned, and broken the laws God had established.
Justice, righteousness, mercy, and forgiveness are observed through the duality of humankind’s spiritual and physical existence along with God’s laws and the laws created by human initiative. The prophetic voice of the Old Testament prophets speaking truth to power, along with the New Testament teachings of love and restoration, provide biblical principles that reinforce the missional component of this ministry project that argues that a compassionate church must address the current state of mass incarceration and respond to it in a way that is visible and valuable. The church must serve the “least of these” to be obedient to the command of Jesus Christ in Matthew 25:40-43.
This section addresses the misuse of biblical scriptures and theologies to justify the many injustices done to the enslaved in the name of Christianity. This section also looks at the different methods of meting out justice to lawbreakers throughout history, in particular the difference between incarceration designed to be rehabilitative, punitive, or restorative.
The Christian response, or lack thereof, to the current state of mass incarceration, is also addressed in light of ongoing racial and ethnic disparities within the U.S. justice system. Is it possible to rationalize or reconcile the current incarceration epidemic in the U.S. with God’s call to justice and mercy? And can the American church, as a whole, claim to be on a mission to set the captives free when this country has the highest incarceration rate in the world?
The final segment of section three looks at the challenge to the Evangelical churches in the U.S issued by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. over 54 years ago and its relevance to today’s crisis of racialized mass incarceration. Does the church of today have prophetic power or an ineffectual voice related to the issues of race that bear upon incarceration?
Inevitably, this chapter provides the biblical, theological, and historical foundations that support the premise that the Bible emphasizes the freedom that God has established for His people. The Church is called and qualified to lead those who are considered to be outcasts or on the margins of society, as formerly incarcerated individuals often are, into an authentic relationship with God that will transform them and their relationships with others.