Georgia’s Faith and Character Based Initiative for Prisoners

Gwen Shamblin created the popular faith-based Weigh Down diet and also founded the Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, with her husband David. Gwen Shamblin has spent time working with prisoners, and her Strongholds group won Faith Based Contributor of the Year in 2013 for the Georgia Department of Corrections’ Faith and Character Based Initiative.

1. Georgia’s Faith and Character Based Initiative for Prisoners Gwen Shamblin

2. Introduction Gwen Shamblin created the popular faith-based Weigh Down diet and also founded the Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, with her husband David. Gwen Shamblin has spent time working with prisoners, and her Strongholds group won Faith Based Contributor of the Year in 2013 for the Georgia Department of Corrections’ Faith and Character Based Initiative.  The initiative, which began in 2004, intends to help prisoners strengthen their spiritual, mental, and physical wellness through community connections. The idea was first implemented in a Florida prison, and that program had seen success in terms of improving inmate behavior and reducing rates of recidivism. Prisoners who go through the program are estimated to be 10 times less likely to return to prison after completing the program. 

3. Faith and Character Based Initiative The program, which takes place in a facility dedicated to the initiative, helps prisoners work on their interpersonal skills and their understanding of responsibility and accountability. Volunteers from diverse groups in the community come in to help mentor the inmates in the voluntary program. While faith is an important aspect of the program, the initiative does not subscribe to any religion in particular.  The full program can take up to two years to complete. After that, prisoners either transfer to another prison, if there’s more time on their sentences, or transition out of prison, hopefully with better skills with which to re-enter society.