Prisoners' Rights

Kinship: Lessons from "Tattoos on the Heart"

Book Discussion Guide
Read an excerpt from the book "Tattoos on the Heart" to learn about the concept of kinship and reflect on its role in your own life using the provided discussion questions.   Photo Credit:...

Forced Organ Harvesting and Falun Gong

Reflection
This resource offers an insight into the cold genocide currently being carried out against Falun Gong practitioners in China. Despite official claims from the Chinese government, this resource...

Jail Ogaden

Fact Sheet & Handout
In the heart of the Somali region, lies one of the most notorious detention centers in Ethiopia. Jail Ogaden is home to thousands of prisoners, who are brutalized and neglected, most of them having...
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13th

Film Discussion Guide
Ava DuVernay’s powerful documentary 13th argues that, although slavery was ostensibly abolished in 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment legally embedded and allowed a pernicious form of enslavement in...

Visions and Hope for the New Year - 2016

Reflection
This reflection invites a review of the past year as we look forward to the new year. Journaling messages of gratitude and hope for personal development can lead to action that supports those in need...
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Catholic Social Thought and Criminal Justice

Reflection
Fr. Kammer offers a compassionate, challenging reflection on criminal justice in light of Catholic Social Thought. He echoes the teaching of the Church in a call for restorative justice that invites...

A Change of Heart Through Forgiveness and Mercy

Prayer Service
Inspired by the words and actions of Pope Francis during his visit with inmates at a prison in Philadelphia, this prayer service calls for a change of heart through mercy and forgiveness towards all...

Prayer for Acceptance and Inclusion

Prayer
Pope Francis provided us with images of inclusion and acceptance, as he met with prisoners, peoples of other faiths, and those with disabilities; this prayer encourages us to follow his...

The Power of Forgiveness

Film Discussion Guide
This guide offers discussion and reflection questions for the documentary The Power of Forgiveness, which features several moving real-life stories of forgiveness as well as comments on the topic...

Health Care in Prisons

This two-page reflection/case study focuses on the problems with health care in U.S. prisons, from the point of view of Scriptures and Catholic Social Teaching, based on the U.S. Catholic Bishops'...

Quiz: The U.S. Prison System

Quiz
The U.S. prison system is plagued with problems and often operates on a retributive (punished-focused) philosophy rather than promoting rehabilitation of the offender. Learn more by downloading this...

Victims of Torture

The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is June 26. Use this fact sheet to learn about the torture that remains a problem in at least half the world's countries in the 21st century.