Our Federal and State prisons are being overrun with criminals. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics website states that there were 2,135,901 inmates in our prisons in 2004, a 2.6% increase from the previous year, and the numbers are going up. For every 100,000 people in the U.S., 486 of them are in prison. Car Angel believes that the only way to solve this problem is by rehabilitating criminals and teaching them to turn from their previous lives and live productively in society.

Unfortunately, not even 1% of the one hundred billion dollars taxpayers spend on prisons every year go to rehabilitation. As a result, repeat offenders over run our prisons and don’t leave room for the first timers entering in. The U.S. BJS states that 78.8% of motor vehicle thieves end up being arrested again for the same crime after they are released and convicted rapists are again arrested for rape within three years after being released from their sentence.

Since this is a problem that requires attention, Car Angel has taken it upon themselves to inspire changes in the prisons starting with the heart. Every year, they release a book into the prisons that confront criminals with the reality of the lives they’ve created for themselves. They are encouraged to come away from their former life and start again with a clean slate on their heart if not on their record.

So far, the books have been a huge success! Car Angel’s books have saved taxpayers an estimated $160,000,000 a year from criminals who have reformed from their old ways after reading them.

An excerpt from Death Sentence, one of the many books that have inspired these changes is posted below. Read for yourself and see why these books are making such a difference in the lives of our fellow Americans. We may not be able to reach everyone, but the lives we have changed make it all worth while.