Prison Ministries
The Diocese of Western North Carolina has a longstanding commitment to serving and ministering among our brothers and sisters incarcerated in local prisons. St. James Episcopal Church, Black Mountain and St. John’s Episcopal Church, Asheville are active in ministry at Swannanoa Correctional Center for Women. Local Episcopal clergy and lay leaders from Asheville, Brevard and Hendersonville are active at Chapel of Christ the King, a ministry to men at Craggy Correctional Center. Likewise, local clergy and lay leaders from Trinity Episcopal Church in Spruce Pine are active in ministry at Avery Mitchell Correctional Center.
Below are resources that provide information on the state of prisons and the challenges faced by those within them.
Local and National Ministries
Books and Movies
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Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor, edited by Tara Herivel and Paul Wright
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The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander
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Prison Culture: Understanding Prison Inside and Out, by Lennie Spitale