In 1997 the Verne Prison permitted the setting up of a distinct Christian community within its walls, the first prison to do so within the western world. Offered as a solution to the problem of control in that prison, it rapidly spread to three other prisons in the UK.
This book is the first major study of the global phenomenon of faith-based prison units. Exploring the roots of faith-based units in South America, it explains why the Prison Service of England and Wales set up the first Christian-based unit in the western world in 1997 - and why there was subsequently a rapid expansion of faith units across the Western world. The book presents a vision of justice that is not just concerned with building more prisons but with rebuilding more prisoners.