What Corrections Industry and Others Think

An Alternative to Traditional Incarceration?

The Corrections Industry Responds to InnerChange^® Freedom Initiative

InnerChange Freedom Initiative provides a faith- and values-based prison program that seeks the moral transformation of inmates and the development of life skills needed for their successful re-entry to their families and communities. The program structure, mentors, and staff encourage a moral transformation that enables graduates to live productive and responsible lives outside of prison. Here is what those involved and impacted by InnerChange Freedom Initiative have to say about the program:

• “If a person is not particularly in favor of religion—is not in favor of doing anything for a criminal offender—but they’re in favor of their own safety, this values-based program is the best insurance policy society has had for the 200-plus-year history of this nation.”
  —Fred Becker, former warden of the Carol Vance Unit, Texas InnerChange Freedom Initiative
   

• “They begin their day at five o’clock every morning. They end their day at 10 o’clock  every night. So, within that time, it would be very difficult for someone to not be real.”
  —Emmalee Conover, former warden of the Winfield Correctional Facility in Kansas
   

• “Initially, there was some thought the inmates would be coddled. They are everything but coddled. They’re held accountable for a lot of things, and I’m shocked at how well the inmates take that.”
  —Marty Marsh, psychologist, Iowa Department of Corrections
   

• “Without InnerChange Freedom Initiative, I would still be robbing, killing and stealing. No, I would probably be dead.”
  —Robert Sutton, InnerChange Freedom Initiative graduate
   

• “At this moment, I can’t tell you of anything else we’ve seen that has the potential for these kinds of results.”
  —Bill Graves, former governor of Kansas
   

• “The guys coming out of InnerChange Freedom Initiative really rally around each other. They pick each other up.”
  —Layne Bryant, oarole officer
   

• “I didn’t know how much God loved me until I went into prison to work with these men.”
  —John Munrow, mentor
   

• “Once we began to talk, all the fears and anxieties went away. He [the inmate] was an inspiration to me. I learned a lot of things just through our relationship.”
  —Flynn Jackson, mentor
   

• “My mentor was always there for me. Every Tuesday night he came for mentoring, he was totally committed to me, and as a man, when someone is totally committed to you, you owe him just that much.”
  —Fredrick Fletcher, InnerChange Freedom Initiative participant
   

• “The major step is what happens when these offenders go to the community—Christian groups provide a lifeline.”
  —W.L. “Kip” Kautsky, former director of the Iowa Department of Corrections
   

• “I’m going to keep meeting with Stephen for the next six months. I love Stephen a lot, and he is old enough to be one of my sons. So, I love him as a son, and I hope we have that relationship forever.”
  —Bill Crain, mentor
   

• “We are not only supplying a program to offenders, but we are also supplying a program to the corrections profession, which can work!”
  —Fred Becker, former warden of the Carol Vance Unit, Texas InnerChange Freedom Initiative
   

• “We’re impressed with possibilities that the program presents, a potential to change lives.”
  —Charles Simmons, deputy secretary, Kansas Department of Corrections
   

• “There has just been a complete transformation, and it’s very easy to see as you talk to them [InnerChange Freedom Initiative participants]—they’re richer, they’re fuller, they have more meaning.”
  —Leslie Joyce Hollingsworth, corrections officer, Kansas Department of Corrections
   

• “What will make an inmate not come back to prison is whether or not he chooses to come back to prison; and what I see InnerChange Freedom Initiative doing is offering the opportunity for the heart to change.”
  —Emmalee Conover, former warden of the Winfield Correctional Facility
   

• “If you are a victim of a crime, and you see someone who has victimized you going to prison, you don’t want the same guy who went in to be released. And I guarantee that most of us will be released—you want a changed man coming out.”
  —Michael Eugene Smith, InnerChange Freedom Initiative participant

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