CCT Principles on Mass incarceration

Mass Incarceration was the topic of the 2014 annual meeting of Christian Churches Together (CCT), which met in Newark, February 4-7. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, since 1970, the incarcerated population has increased by 700% (from 338,029 in 1970 to 2.3 million in 2018). This increase in the incarceration rate is known as “mass incarceration”— an unprecedented amount of individuals spending time in prison, with a disproportionate number of those imprisoned being people of color. CCT leaders responded to this crisis with a document outlining several principles on mass incarceration (see below).