Impact
Reports

This year, the Pennsylvania Prison Society made a profound difference in the health, safety, and dignity of people living behind bars and their families. This report shows the impact we made in 2023 by assisting incarcerated people, by exposing and addressing issues behind bars, and by helping families build and maintain connection through the distance and isolation of prison.

At its core, the Prison Society embodies the principles of neighbors helping neighbors, citizens holding the government to account, and the entitlement of all Americans to pursue happiness. Our report shares how this year, more than ever, Prison Society staff and volunteers are on the ground working to protect the health, safety, and dignity of the 62,000 Pennsylvanians living in confinement. It also highlights the power of family and friends whose essential contact through incarceration makes all the difference to a successful return home.

The challenges brought on by the past year have been described as unprecedented, historic, and unforgettable. Our report shares how we navigated through them and ultimately came out of this extraordinary year stronger.

For 234 years, the Prison Society has borne witness to injustice and inhumane treatment behind bars. We have never looked away. The overlapping crises of a once-in-a-century pandemic, decades of mass incarceration, and renewed urgency to address systemic racism have brought into stark relief fundamental truths about prisons. This year's annual report shares some of the lessons of these crises—lessons that make our work at the Prison Society all the more important—and celebrates the progress we've made in this unprecedented year.

2019 was a year of extraordinary gains—bringing light to the inside and the darkness on the inside to light. Your support enabled us to expose institutional cruelties and to step in and stop human suffering. We helped thousands of families stay connected. With our affiliates, we raised awareness and advocated for the end of life sentences and solitary confinement. We inspired more people to show love above bars and put an end to the culture of punishment.

We are on the move. Over this past year, we have realigned our programming, resources, and staffing. We have undertaken significant new partnerships and stepped up into new opportunities, modernized our governance structure, freshened our branding and attracted many new funders and supporters.