On Sunday, February 8, at 10:15 a.m., the Prison Ministry at St. Philip’s In The Hills Episcopal Church will host a forum entitled “Prison Issues in America and Arizona.” We will gather in the East Gallery to address the following (and other) questions:

Why does the U.S. have the world’s highest incarceration rate? Why is the State of Arizona sixth in prison population but only fifteenth in total population? Who are the winners in the prison industry? Why is solitary confinement such a big problem? Why are 32% of current Arizona inmates there for parole/probation violations? Why do we in the church need to know about all this? What can ordinary citizens do to help?

Our presenter is Rebecca Fealk with “Read Between the Bars,” a volunteer-based Tucson organization that gets free books directly into the hands of incarcerated women and men in Arizona and advocates for prison reform.

St. Philip’s Prison Ministry is exploring ways to live up to the words of Jesus in Matthew 25: “’For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; … I was sick, and you visited me; … I was in prison, and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? … When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.’”