Prison Ministry

Assisting women and teenage boys to reenter family and society and providing vocational help

Annual Goal: $17,000.00

Year to Date Gifts: $252.50

The criminal justice system in Senegal is broken. The prison population is growing and the needs of prisoners often go un-met. According to World Prison Brief, In 2014 the Senegal prison system was 117% of capacity with over 8630 prisoners in 37 prisons. The numbers trend upward as the prison population continues to increase. Over three percent of the prisoners are women and two percent juveniles (under 18 years). About 41 percent of the prisoners are pretrial detainees who will often go long periods in jail before trial. Food, toiletries and outside human contact seem to be in short supply. Since Senegal is a very poor country many of the prisoners do not receive any support from family members and many of them are responsible for supporting family and extended family on the outside.

Our ministry is a support system for the prisoners. It helps with food and other fundamental necessities when possible. We contact family members here in Senegal and when possible in other countries in Africa such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.

Introduce inmates to Jesus Christ. Teach inmates useful skills to aid rehabilitation. Provide one on one and group counselling. Work with inmates on socialization skills. Visit inmates homes to encourage families members to be active in the lives of their incarcerated loved ones. Visit court and meet with judges and attorneys to advocate on behalf to the inmates. Maintain contact with released inmates to assist in reintroduction into society. Establish prison outreach ministries in all of the United Methodist churches in Senegal.

By encouraging young offenders to warn their sibling and family about the risks of incarceration and by helping them find and alternative to illegal activity we hope to start a reduction in the incarceration rate.