Something remarkable is happening inside Ohio's prisons, and we don't use that word lightly. God is at work, transforming hearts from the inside out, and what we're seeing is nothing short of a revival beginning behind bars. Through our partnership with The Four-Seven, Crossroads has been walking alongside people before they're released and staying with them as they take their first steps back into the world.
Last year, 8,556 people were supported as they prepared for reentry. For 575 of them, that support went all the way — real people (volunteers), walking alongside them through one of the hardest transitions life can throw at you. That's not a program. That's the body of Christ showing up.
Over the past eight years, 2,545 Ohioans have come home because someone was there to walk with them. And here's the number that should stop you in your tracks: of those 2,545 people, only 28 have returned to prison. That's a 2.4% recidivism rate (recidivism meaning the rate at which someone reoffends and ends up back incarcerated), compared to the national average of a 50% recidivism rate.
Half of the people who leave prison in this country end up back behind bars. That is not happening here. Lives are changing. Families are being put back together. Communities across Ohio are safer. And by helping people successfully return to society and stay there, this work has saved Ohio taxpayers over $106 million — dollars that would have otherwise gone toward keeping people locked up. That math is stunning, but the mission is even better.
In fact, it's only getting bigger and better. We're thrilled to announce that the next phase of development is beginning on an innovative reentry app — a first-of-its-kind tool designed to meet people exactly where they are and give them the resources, connections, and support they need to build a life that sticks. This is what innovation in the name of dignity looks like. We're building something that can scale the work, carry the mission further, and ensure that no one navigating reentry has to figure it out alone.
This is God's work, and we get to be a part of it. He is capturing hearts, rewriting stories, and doing things inside prison walls that we couldn't manufacture if we tried by ourselves. We're grateful to be invited into what he's already doing and we can't wait to show you what comes next.
