A broken chain

Welcome to the Mississippi Association for Returning Citizens (MARC)

Our Mission is to create a support system for inmates to help them break through the cycles of incarceration and poverty through accountability, collaboration, building resources, and discovering opportunities.

What do we do?

Here is some of the work in which we invite you to join us.

Preparing for reentry

MARC offers various programs aimed at providing hope and reducing recidivism through learning, building resources, accountability and collaboration.
Teaching Prisoners Icon

Learn More About Our Programs 

Advocating for Restorative Justice

MARC works with our state’s lawmakers to advocate for justice that is fair, constructive, and strives for restoration.

Pursuing justice icon

Learn More About Restorative Justice

Creating a network of resources

MARC seeks to link together a network of volunteers, organizations, and resources to support returning citizens.

Working with those reentering icon

Learn More About Our Network

Why join us in this work?

One reason is that we believe that every person is an image of God, and no life is too far out of reach.
Another is that this is an area in which Mississippi has much work to be done. Here are a few statistics that give an overview of the issue.

  • Mississippi currently has an incarceration rate of 1,031 people per 100,000. This is a 57% higher average in the US, and second overall.
    Mississippi's incarceration rate is 1,031 per 100,000
    prisonpolicy.org

  • The three year recidivism rate for those released in the year 2018 was 37.4%, but the five year rate may be much higher.
    Upwards of 37% re-enter the criminal justice system after release in Mississippi.
    The Mississippi Legislature Committee on Performance and Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER Committee)

  • The Mississippi Dept. of Corrections spent approximately $348.5 million dollars in the 2020 fiscal year. The average cost per day for an inmate in a facility is $50.63.
    The corrections budget for fiscal year 2020 in Mississippi
    The PEER Committee

  • According to the latest report from the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review

    “While expenditures on adult prison-based intervention programs account for less than two percent of MDOC’s total estimated expenditures, research shows a high likelihood that the long-term return on dollars invested in well-run intervention programs, shown by high-quality research to be effective in reducing recidivism, will exceed costs, in some cases by large amounts.” (emphasis added)

    See the full Report from the PEER committee.

...the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:17-19

Ready to join us or want more info?

You can use the form below to contact us for more information or for any questions you may have.

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