MCF-SHK Prison Fellowship Academy Class 35 Graduates

By Pamela Rubash

PFA, which is fully funded by non-government dollars, works with incarcerated men and women to explore their identity and the factors that shaped them, to examine faulty thinking, and to form new goals. Based on decades of experience and best practice learning methodology, Prison Fellowship Academy is a voluntary program IPs can choose which encourages participants to replace criminal thinking and behaviors with renewed purpose and values based on the life principles of integrity, responsibility, affirmation, productivity, restoration and community. (www.prisonfellowship.org/about/academy/)

On December 19, 2023 the year-long, 300+ hour, transformational journey came to an end with a graduation celebration for Class 35. Pictured above are 11 of the 13 graduates with their instructor, PFA Program Manager Pamela Rubash. For some of them the next step was release and the ability to join a PFA Alumni Network on the outside. For some graduates, the next step is the Challenge Incarceration Program or working toward a higher education degree or certification. All graduates still housed within MCF-SHK have joined the Prison Fellowship Academy Graduate Leadership program where they will continue their transformational journey and also dedicate time and energy to service projects for the prison and PODs in which they reside.