Facts You Should Know

In America half the 1.5 million children with an incarcerated parent will commit a crime before they turn 18—TIME cover story, November 2000.

The average cost of keeping one inmate for one year in a New York City prison is $64,000, more than sending a child to Harvard.

Convicted for selling as little as two ounces of cocaine, New Yorkers receive a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in prison. In New York 70% of the incarcerated, return to prison for a second term. In contrast, among Abraham House graduates, the rate of recidivism is 1.5%.

Stefan Vanfleteren

More than 90% of all prisoners who serve sentences do return to society. They need to be prepared.

70% of the parents in U.S. prisons do not have a high school diploma.—Bureau of Justice Statistics

Nine out of 10 prison wardens support greater use of alternatives to incarceration.

Half the offenders in prison would not be a danger to society, if released—from a 1994 survey of corrections officials

Quotes About Abraham House ... and It's People

“I remember watching Pedro shedding his tough skin at an Abraham House retreat. He said, ‘I just want to be a better person, a beautiful person.’”--a photographer

“I never saw a house like this. It is my only chance in life, and I am going to grab it.”--a resident

“It was what I saw rather than what I did at Abraham House that stuck to me: the way people are treated. For Fr. Peter, Sr. Simone and the other sisters giving is all their happiness.” – a former resident

“The way I did things in my past life didn’t work. Right now I need supervision to get it together, the discipline of Abraham House.” –a resident

“Sometimes a man doesn’t have the strength to do l ½ years at Abraham House and opts for 13 years in prison.”—Fr. Peter on residents who drop out of the residential program

“A person who has been at war with himself and society and now seeks peace in life, someone who wants simple joys, that prisoner usually does well in our residential program—Fr. Peter

“There has to be a connection to something spiritual for a man to succeed here. We do not oblige men to be religious, but the minimum is to be a human being, to be able to relate to others, to have a capacity for trust.–Fr. Peter

“Jail doesn’t rehab nobody, you rehab yourself.”—a resident.

The animal part of human beings is tangible in prison. You touch evil. But you also see people not going along with that. You find prisoners willing to give to others there -- in prison. I remember a collection inmates took up among themselves for the famine victims in Ethiopia. In things like that you see the beauty of humanity.—Fr. Peter

Quotes About Our Families

“Families come here hurt, sad; you can see their depression on the surface of their skin. In the serenity of Abraham House, they are able to talk.”—a counselor

“Lives are not simply rehabilitated but saved at Abraham House. Families are restored. This is one of the most impressive activities in which the Church is involved”.—John Cardinal O’Connor

Quotes About the After-School Youngsters, Ages 5 to 15

“This is the age at which a child’s conscience is built—or isn’t”—Anna Freud

“Even at 7 and 8 they are fearful and ashamed. Of themselves and of their parents and of their poverty. They need a place like Abraham House where they can develop courage.”—an After-School teacher at Abraham House

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