Understanding the Complexities of Faith-Based Prison Ministry

This article expresses something of the complexities of faith-based prison ministry, from the direct experience of a church affiliated pastor working within a secular, State-managed and/or controlled institution of social control. While sharing something of the nature of the complexities of that role, it proceeds to establish the basis and foundations for a faith-based ministry within an institution of the State. The author shares some of his personal professional experiences working within a high security prison environment and the conflict of values that arose from time to time. Included in the reflections, are some of the author’s experience of the criminal justice system in various parts of the world. He concludes by calling for a major review of the ineffective models that have been inherited here in Australia from another age, another culture, and a different values system in the United Kingdom. The author calls for a move away from a model of retributive justice to a model of restorative justice.