One Parish One Prisoner: A New Underground Railroad

February 21, 2021

Chris Hoke

America's problem with locking its own people away - 2.2 million men and women currently in jail or prison, what we call mass incarceration - has a direct lineage to the institution of slavery in our history. Michelle Alexander, in her now-classic The New Jim Crow, which traces this lineage, has called for "a new underground railroad today." That is, informal networks of communities everywhere prepared to welcome men and women out of incarceration, locally. Underground Ministries founded its "One Parish One Prisoner" model in 2018 to answer this call.

Chris, founder and executive director of Underground Ministries, will connect the historical "underground railroad" model to a fresh understanding of Jesus' original movement: mobilizing communities to "practice resurrection" and pry open the gates of the underworlds society creates. Chris is excited to invite SUUF to join this growing movement today by becoming a One Parish One Prisoner fellowship in the coming year with one individual releasing to Skagit County, and he will share what that adventure looks like.