All About Us
Jewish Prisoner Services International had its origins as an organization sponsored by B'nai B'rith International. JPSI currently functions on a totally independent basis. Its mission is to provide direct spiritual, outreach and advocacy services for Jewish prisoners and their loved ones while concurrently working in conjunction with several major Jewish organizations and social service agencies. Assistance is rendered throughout the United States, Canada, Israel and elsewhere around the globe. JPSI's directors and staff come from all branches of Judaism. We are primarily a volunteer-driven organization that includes rabbis, lay leaders, educators, businessmen, attorneys, other professionals, and even a judge. In addition, ex-offenders who had been recipients of the group's programs will frequently join JPSI to assist in furthering its worthy much-needed objectives.
Among our most successful inmate programs are the professionally-conducted Marriage Enrichment Seminars. These two-day programs designed for Jewish prisoners and their wives are produced by Larry Karlin, JPSI vice-chairman, and conducted by Dr. Bernard Guerney, a former Pennsylvania State University professor of human development. He has adapted his "Relationship Enhancement Program" to specifically reduce the high rate of divorces attributed to the trauma of forced separation that is part and parcel of the incarceration experience.
In recent years, we have matched hundreds of Jewish prisoners with compatible pen-pals. We have continued our Holiday Greeting Card Program in which we send Rosh Hashanah, Pesach and Hanukkah cards to prisoners so that they may, in turn, send them out to their family and friends. This helps them to maintain contact with their families and gives them a feeling of inclusion during the holiday as opposed to reinforcing their already heightened feelings of isolation and despair.
Through our religious and educational outreach programs, we continue to supply books of Judaic interest, Jewish calendars, siddurim, Stars of David, tefillin and Torahs to our incarcerated brethren. In many cases, this is the only way that prison authorities will allow such materials into their facilities. Our free, Jewish, video-lending library is already a proven success throughout the nation.
Thankfully, there has been increased volunteer participation in our prison visitation programs. Volunteers go into the prisons to visit prisoners on an ongoing basis to observe Shabbat, the High Holy Days, Pesach and other rabbinical and scriptural holidays.
As we look to the future, JPSI's leadership seeks to become more involved in the formation of Jewish post-release facilities, offering more support for the families of Jewish incarcerates, a bigger and better free video-lending library, an ever-enlarging pen-pal program, and a Judaica distribution center that will truly accommodate the spiritual-growth aspirations of all Jews who practice their faith behind the wire and walls.
Clearly, our successes and achievements would be unrealizable without the support and commitment of the nation's entire Jewish community. We hope that as you read of our mitzvot you will be inspired to join with us at any level or levels of participation that pique your interest. We are eternally grateful for your support and involvement. Reaching out to the forgotten and the needy -- that's what living Judaism is all about!