Christ of America

1 in 100 Americans are in prison today, 7 times the number in 1970.

Lord, have mercy!

The United States has 25 % of the world’s entire prison population

Christ, have mercy!

40% of the people in prison in the United States are African-American.

Lord, have mercy!

20% of the people in prison in the United States are Hispanic.

Christ, have mercy!

Two-thirds of those incarcerated in the United States are for nonviolent crimes.

Lord, have mercy!

Christ of Self-Defense

There are 250 million guns in the Unites States today; one third of them are hand guns.

Lord, have mercy!

25% of adults and one-third of households in the U.S. have at least one gun.

Christ, have mercy!

There are 30,000 gun deaths annually in the United States.

Lord, have mercy!

Christ of Children

1 in 28 children in America have at least one parent in prison.

Lord, have mercy!

1 in 9 Black children have at least one parent in prison.

Christ, have mercy!

65% of the women in Pennsylvania State prisons are mothers of children under 18 years of age.

Lord, have mercy!

55% of the men in Pennsylvania State Prisons are father of children under 18 years of age.

Christ, have mercy!

The children and siblings of those in prison are six times more likely to wind up in prison themselves.

Lord, have mercy!

Christ of Young Black Men

45% of the 250 murders in Philadelphia in 2010 are still under investigation

Lord, have mercy!

77% of the victims in these unresolved cases are black males.

Christ, have mercy!

79% of these unresolved murder cases are of black males under the age of 30.

Lord, have mercy!

Christ of Poverty

Philadelphia is officially the poorest of the 10 largest cities in the US (25% below the poverty line).

Lord, have mercy!

25% to 30% of prisoners in Philadelphia read at a second or third grade level.

Christ, have mercy!

The First Congressional District in North Philadelphia is one of the hungriest, second only to the Bronx, N.Y. in the United States.

Lord, have mercy!

Jesus said to his Disciples: “Give them some food yourselves.” (Mt. 14:16)

Christ, have mercy!

These figures are a compilation of recent reports: the Pew Center Study, 2009, the House Resolution Bill #203 in the State of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Inquirer, November 2010, and The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, an ongoing national poll done in conjunction with the Food Research and Action Center in Washington.

–From Adeodatus Prison Ministry