Churches and individuals within worshiping communities have made positive moves toward changing the prison system. Prisoners need and have a right to adequate health care, freedom from violence, freedom from solitary confinement, decent wages, decision-making power--and work in favor of these measures cannot wait until the state agrees to tear down the prison walls.
Despite the positive contributions toward change, churches have also been heavily implicated in the prison business. This is not to suggest that most churches forthrightly support the practice of locking people in cages. On the contrary, church support for the prison business has often come precisely with high-minded reform efforts. The penitentiary system owes a great deal to the reform efforts of 18th century Quakers. Churches today provide jails with chaplains, and jails in turn provide churches with ministerial visiting privileges.
Without a better biblical understanding of prisons and their role in society, we can easily become slaves to the present age rather than a servant people of God. This article is an attempt to provide some biblical perspective on our relationship to and responsibility for the one of every 500 Americans who is presently in jail or prison.
Ancient Israel's legal system used jailings and executions to treat its criminals. Executions were carried out in response to the crimes of murder, adultery, or the practice of magic, all of which were seen as particularly evil because they broke relationships within the covenant community or with Yahweh. Jails were introduced in Israel, mostly under foreign influence, one example being Joseph's prison experience in Egypt.
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