When The Prison Policy Initiative, a team of experts on cutting-edge research around the U.S. prison system, released its annual “big picture” report in 2024, one statistic stood out to us more than any other: 113 million adults in the United States have an immediate family member who has been to prison or jail.
Perhaps from overuse we, as citizens of the United States, have gotten used to terms like “crisis-level incarceration” or statistics like our country’s annual prison population hovering around 2 million people. But 113 million adults is a staggering number not so easily ignored. 113 million adults means, more likely than not, someone in your church has been personally affected by the U.S. prison system.
If this possibility comes as a surprise or seems like an exaggeration, consider the lengths someone might go toward keeping this part of their family history a secret, especially among his or her church community. An Orthodox priest is informed one of his parishioners was just arrested; who can he call for help that will know what to do now? A mother is left worrying about her son in jail, not knowing where his trial will place him long term; what if no one from her church understands this kind of anxiety?
Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM), an agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States, can attest to these patterns of shame and overwhelm among the Faithful. But this is also why OCPM has established a team of Prisoner Spiritual Support Managers (PSSMs), full-time case managers who spend their days meeting the needs of people in prison and their loved ones on the outside. Furthermore, OCPM is training hundreds of Orthodox clergy and lay volunteers across the country to sustainably serve those behind bars. This means consistent communication, face-to-face visitation, even offering services and the Holy Sacraments inside the prison facility.
Through the work of OCPM, the Orthodox Church is ready to help you if incarceration, and all that entails, becomes a reality for you or someone you know. We don’t have to be naïve about the “113 million adults affected,” but we don’t have to be afraid, either.
As the national prison ministry of the Orthodox Church, OCPM is entirely funded through parish and individual support. If you want this work to continue, consider joining hundreds of Orthodox churches on July 27, 2025 for Prison Ministry Awareness Sunday. Learn more and get involved at theocpm.org/pmas