Prison Archives

Catholic priest sentenced to prison for molesting teenager

Associated Press, Church in the US
Sep 28, 2019

A Catholic priest who pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a Northern California teenager for more than a year has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison.

Life without parole is not a solution to crime, pope says

Catholic News Service, Vatican
Sep 16, 2019

Sentencing someone to life in prison without the possibility of parole is “not the solution to problems, but a problem to solve,” Pope Francis told Italian prison guards, prison chaplains and officials from the Ministry of Justice.

Texas prison ministries bring grace, sacraments behind bars

Catholic News Service, Church in the US
Sep 1, 2019

A longtime effort of Kolbe Prison Ministries and Texas diocesan correction ministries, Kolbe prison retreats, named for the Polish martyr, offer incarcerated men and women the chance to experience God’s redemptive grace and mercy with a weekend featuring the sacraments, small-group sharing and more, organizers said.

Priest already deemed sexually violent sentenced again

Associated Press, Church in the US
Aug 17, 2019

The first Catholic priest in the U.S. to be labeled sexually violent when he was convicted in Illinois was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for abusing two boys in Missouri in the 1990s.

Solitary confinement in U.S. prisons qualifies today as torture

Catholic News Service, Church in the US
Apr 20, 2019

Religious groups including the U.S. bishops argue that long-term solitary confinement in prison is a form of torture.

Be servants to one another, pope tells prisoners before washing feet

Catholic News Service, Vatican
Apr 18, 2019

Jesus’ gesture of washing his disciples’ feet, an act once reserved to servants and slaves, is one that all Christians, especially bishops, must imitate, Pope Francis told hundreds of inmates and prison employees on Holy Thursday.