PFI Launches New Centre

Prison Fellowship International President and CEO Ron Nikkel has announced the establishment of the Centre for Offender Transformation to serve as a nexus, repository and advocate for the global association’s programmes for prisoners, ex-prisoners, victims and prisoners’ families.

 “Prison Fellowship now has nearly thirty years of experience in prison ministry throughout the world,” said Ron Nikkel, “The time has come for us to consolidate what we have learned about effective strategies and methods of working with prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families. The purpose of our new Centre for Offender Transformation will be to collect and develop world-class resources for the use of our 113 national affiliates and, more broadly, the church and criminal justice community.” 

 The Centre for Offender Transformation will feature programmes ranging from scripture studies to micro-enterprise, from pre-release preparation to family support.  While the Centre will primarily focus on serving Prison Fellowship affiliates, it will also seek to build awareness in the Church and criminal justice community of the time-tested programmes which have led to the transformation of the offender. 

 “By focusing PFI’s services through the Centre for Offender Transformation, the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation (CJR), and the Institute for Leadership Formation (ILF), we will be able to provide national ministries with more relevant and specialized ministry and programme information and technical support to meet their needs.  National ministries…will have direct access to each of these Centres,” said Michael Timmis, Chairman of PFI’s Board of Directors, and Ian Elliott, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. 

 The Centre joins Prison Fellowship International’s two existing resource and service centres, the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation (CJR) and the Institute for Leadership Formation (ILF), online at   

http://www.pficjr.org/ and http://www.pfi.org/ILF.  CJR provides expertise and assistance to PF national affiliates as they address justice issues in their countries, and it develops and promotes the use of restorative justice around the world as a more effective way of repairing the harm caused by crime.  The Institute for Leadership Formation assists emerging PF leaders in developing spiritual leadership, management skills, and ongoing development.  

 The most extensive international criminal justice ministry, Prison Fellowship International (PFI) is a global association of 113 national Prison Fellowship organisations.  PFI is active in every region of the world with a network of more than 100,000 volunteers working for the spiritual, moral, social and physical well-being of prisoners, ex-prisoners, their families and victims of crime.  National Prison Fellowship organisations are indigenous, volunteer-based and include Christians from the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox traditions.   

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