WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prison Fellowship, the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families and a leading advocate for criminal justice reform, today announced it is holding a Day of Action on Capitol Hill to urge Congress to pass the Safer Supervision Act. The outreach effort is part of Prison Fellowship’s ongoing commitment to support proportionate punishment, constructive prison culture and second chances.
More than 35 Prison Fellowship employees, justice ambassadors and faith leaders -- including 18 formerly incarcerated individuals -- will visit over 30 congressional offices to encourage lawmakers to support the Safer Supervision Act. This bipartisan legislation aims to modernize federal supervised release by requiring courts to review whether supervision is appropriate at sentencing, by reducing automatic and overly long terms, and by tailoring conditions to individual circumstances. The legislation improves reentry outcomes by incentivizing progress, replacing mandatory revocations with evidence-based alternatives for certain violations, and it allows earned time credits during incarceration to be applied toward conditional release.
The Safer Supervision Act of 2025 is sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), with Sens. Christopher Coons (D-DE), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and James Lankford (R-OK) serving as co-sponsors. In the House of Representatives, the bill is sponsored by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL-15), with Reps. Zach Nunn (R-IA-3), Barry Moore (R-AL-1), Deborah Ross (D-NC-2), Lucy McBath (D-GA-6), Burgess Owens (R-UT-4), Don Bacon (R-NE-2), Mark Harris (R-NC-8), and Lloyd Smucker (R-PA-11) as co-sponsors.
“Prison Fellowship supports the Safer Supervision Act because it reflects our belief that every person has God-given dignity and the potential to change,” said Heather Rice-Minus, CEO and president of Prison Fellowship. “The Safer Supervision Act strengthens accountability while creating a system that restores lives, supports officers, and builds safer communities.”
“Prison Fellowship applauds leaders from both chambers for introducing the Safer Supervision Act,” said Kate Trammell, Prison Fellowship senior vice president of advocacy, legal and research. “Today’s Day of Action on Capitol Hill is about advancing rehabilitation, reducing recidivism and improving public safety. The Safer Supervision Act gives courts more discretion to treat each person individually according to their crime, progress and risk factors. This will shrink caseloads for overburdened probation officers who will have more time to focus on people who are a higher risk during reentry.”
Prison Fellowship Advocacy for Prison Reform
Since its founding, Prison Fellowship has played a prominent role in our nation’s capital, helping to pass groundbreaking federal legislation and launch initiatives that make the criminal justice system more restorative, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (1993), the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (2000), the Prison Rape Elimination Act (2003), the Second Chance Act (2008), the Fair Sentencing Act (2010), the establishment of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections (2014), the Second Chance Month Senate resolution (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) and presidential proclamation (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024), the FIRST STEP Act (2018), the Fair Chance Act (2019), Pell Restoration (2020), the Law Enforcement De-escalation Training Act (2022) and the Federal Prison Oversight Act (2024), among others.
Prison Fellowship
Prison Fellowship is the nation's largest Christian nonprofit equipping the Church to serve currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families, and to advocate for justice and human dignity. Prison Fellowship and its church partners encounter Jesus with those behind bars, breaking cycles of crime and prayerfully anticipating a revival that brings justice, mercy and hope to our culture.
Susan Merriman Prison Fellowship susan_merriman@pfm.org
