This volume examines how volunteers and non-profit programs encourage institutional change in prisons and offer individual support and services to people who are housed behind bars. Through a diverse set of chapters, including two that are co-written by current prisoners, the volume spans the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and juvenile and adult facilities. The book showcases the exciting, groundbreaking, and yet often unrecognized work that the voluntary sector provides in correctional settings. Collectively, the chapters highlight beneficial practices while raising critical questions about the role of the voluntary sector in prison and reentry settings. The chapters also offer useful information about how to implement innovative prison programs that promote health, education, and peer support. 

This volume examines how volunteers and non-profit programs encourage institutional change in prisons and offer individual support and services to people who are housed behind bars. Through a diverse set of chapters, including two that are co-written by current prisoners, the volume spans the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and juvenile and adult facilities. The book showcases the exciting, groundbreaking, and yet often unrecognized work that the voluntary sector provides in correctional settings. Collectively, the chapters highlight beneficial practices while raising critical questions about the role of the voluntary sector in prison and reentry settings. The chapters also offer useful information about how to implement innovative prison programs that promote health, education, and peer support. 

Part I: Background.- Chapter One Introduction The Significance of Voluntary Sector Provision in Correctional Settings Laura S. Abrams, Emma Hughes, Rosie Meek, Michelle Inderbitzin.- Chapter Two Non-Profit and Voluntary Sector Programs in Prisons and Jails: Perspectives from England and the United States Emma Hughes.- Part II: Prisoners as Volunteers.- Chapter Three.- Learning and Practicing Citizenship and Democracy Behind Bars Michelle Inderbitzin, Joshua Cain, and Trevor Walraven.- Chapter Four Leading by Example: Ways that Prisoners Give Back to their Communities Michelle Inderbitzin, Trevor Walraven, and James Anderson.- Chapter Five Movements Towards Desistance Via Peer-Support Roles in Prison Christian Perrin and Nicholas Blagden.- Chapter Six The Development of a Peer-Based Approach for Promoting Prisoner Health in an English Male Young Offender Institution Anita Mehay and Rosie Meek.- Part III: The Non-Profit Sector and Prison Culture: Interactions, Boundaries, and Opportunities.- Chapter Seven.- The Involvement of Nonprofit Organizations in Prisoner Reentry in the UK: Prisoner Awareness and Engagement Rosie Meek, Dina Gojkovic and Alice Mills.- Chapter Eight Carceral Devolution and the Transformation of Urban America Reuben Miller and Gwendolyn Purifoye.- Chapter Nine From Ex-Offender to New Contributor: An Examination of How a Community-Based Reentry Program Addresses Racial Barriers to Employment.- Charles H. Lea III and Laura S. Abrams.- Chapter Ten Penal Assemblages: Governing Youth In The Penal Voluntary Sector Abigail Salole.- Part IV: Supporting the Supporters: The Voices of Volunteers.- Chapter Eleven “Volunteers Welcome, thatis, Some Volunteers”: Experiences Teaching College Courses at a Women’s Prison Kristenne M. Robison.- Chapter Twelve Crossing The Color Line into America’s Prisons: Volunteers of Color Reflect on Race and Identity in a College Service Learning Project Jennifer R. Tilton.- Chapter Thirteen Developing Self-Care Strategies for Volunteers in a Prison Writing Program Tobi Jacobi and Lara Rose Roberts.