Agape Network works with the criminal justice system, drug courts, and the Criminal Mental Health Project (CMHP), which diverts the mentally ill out of the criminal justice system. The combined goal is to divert nonviolent defendants with serious mental illnesses (SMI) or co-occurring SMI and substance use disorders, from the criminal justice system into community-based treatment and support services. What makes this program distinctive is a comprehensive, coordinated response to what’s recognized as a shared community problem.

In Miami alone, over 100,000 inmates annually are arrested and returned to their communities, often in worse condition at end of their sentences than when they were first incarcerated. They return home to devastated families — without jobs, education, and sometimes without a place to live. Inmates regularly participating in monthly discipleship classes are offered the opportunity to enroll in the Re-Entry Program, which helps inmates reconcile with and transition back to their families with dignity and hope. Assisting their successful re-entry, our programs begin to work with inmates pre-release providing services to assist in behavioral health treatment, securing employment, housing, place of worship, and all the support services needed to accomplish not only the correction of inmates but also their rehabilitation as they transition back into the community.

South Florida Jail Ministries (SFJM) is a network of care teams and chaplains serving every jail facility in Miami-Dade County, sharing the transforming love of God with offenders. Matthew 25:36 urges us to visit those in prison, SFJM Chaplains answer God’s call, bringing hope, good news to incarcerated men, women and youth in our community.