Who We Are
The Prison Society is a dynamic social justice organization: for 218 years, we have advocated on behalf of people in prison and their families.
We do not excuse the crimes committed by some of the people we serve, but rather advocate for a society where all people are held accountable, punishment is restorative and the humanity in all people is recognized. The Pennsylvania Prison Society is a membership organization.
The Prison Society is independent of any religious society, government or political affiliation. It is headed by an executive director and governed by a board of directors. The Society is organized into chapters throughout the state. More than 1,000 people hold membership in the Society.
Please use this section of the site to explore our mission statement, by laws, history and milestones.
Justice and Compassion Do Not Have to Be Exclusive
The confluence of colonial revolutionary commitment to liberty and Quaker loathing of violence led to the creation in 1787 of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, now called the Pennsylvania Prison Society. The founders of the Prison Society valued liberty such that they felt taking it away through incarceration was ample punishment for use by an enlightened new nation to use in correcting its errant citizens. At the same time, they believed that quiet isolation, rather than harsh, public corporal punishment, the norm in colonial America, would produce a penitent criminal. Within a year of its founding, the Prison Society initiated the penitentiary model of incarceration at Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia while insisting that citizens have the right and, indeed, the obligation, to visit prisoners to ensure humane treatment.
Today, more than two hundred years later, members of the Prison Society still believe that justice and compassion do not have to be exclusive. The organization continues to promote just, humane and restorative corrections by serving thousands of prisoners, ex-offenders and family members each year through direct services and programs, prison visitation, and public education.
One of the most important ways this is accomplished is through our Official Visitors, a network of 450 volunteers throughout the state who make thousands of prison visits each year to monitor prison conditions, assist with resolution of individual or systemic problems, or to simply visit a lonely, forgotten prisoner. This official visitor status is granted by act of state legislative and shared only by the governor, legislators, and judges.
The Prison Society provides parenting skills education classes, restorative justice seminars, informational services for women, and support to elder prisoners in state and county correctional facilities. Community programming includes support groups for children with incarcerated parents and re-entry programs for ex-offenders. Lectures, forums for public deliberation, and written publications help educate and inform the public about criminal justice issues. Through video conferencing and affordable transportation to prisons, the Prison Society helps families stay connected during periods of incarceration.
Our current concentrations include: lowering the prison population while maintaining public safety; questioning the usefulness and evaluating the impact of mandatory sentencing; and advocating for alternatives to incarceration, a moratorium on the death penalty, and increased use of the commutation process.
The Prison Society, headquartered in Philadelphia, operates through 43 chapters across the state. It is a non-profit organization supported by 1,000 members and funding from a variety of private and public sources.