Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM) proclaims the love of Christ to men and women who are incarcerated. We do this by applying the teachings of the Orthodox Faith to correspond with thousands of prisoners, providing them personalized spiritual care, Bibles, books, icons, catechism, and study courses. For those wishing to live an Orthodox way of life, we advocate on their behalf for correctional facilities around the country to recognize the Orthodox faith, so that priests can enter prison facilities and administer the Sacraments.
As the national prison ministry of the Orthodox Church, we provide resources and training to local parishes and clergy, enabling them to offer local solutions and fulfill Christ’s command to visit Him in prison. As a result, families are reunited, marriages are healed, and thousands of incarcerated men and women have a new sense of peace and restored order in their lives.
Our initiatives:
- We correspond with prisoners to provide personalized spiritual care, Bibles, books, icons, catechism, and study courses.
- We publish our own books and icons, which have been designed for use in prison and are printed to meet the stringent rules of prison mailing rooms.
- We catechize prisoners in the Orthodox faith through a series of correspondence study courses.
- We train Orthodox priests and laypersons to visit and counsel those in prison and to provide the Sacraments.
- OCPM advocates for correctional facilities around the country to recognize the Orthodox faith so that priests can enter prisons and administer the Sacraments and the services.
Quick Facts:
-OCPM handles on average 92,310 pieces of mail each year
-More than 2 million icon prayer cards have been distributed
-More than 1 million OCPM publications distributed to prisoners