What If Criminals Worked Instead of Going to Jail? Ft. Adam Terrell

Adam Terrell, author and director of The Joshua House, a halfway house ministry in Latah County, Idaho, joins the show to argue that prison is the wrong default punishment for non-violent crime. Adam says incarceration delays restitution to victims while taxpayers pay the bill, and he walks through the court-referred model his ministry runs: housing, employer connections, accountability reporting, and immediate work so repayment can begin. Radell pushes back on scalability, on whether Bible study alone rehabilitates anyone who is not religious, and on Adam's longer term biblical vision, which includes corporal punishment and treating offenses such as adultery as capital offenses.

All positions and views expressed above are Adam Terrell's own and do not represent the views of Purple Political Breakdown.

The Joshua House: https://thejoshua.house
Voluntary Theocracy: https://voluntarytheocracy.org

CHAPTERS
00:00 Why Talk About the Prison System?
00:45 Meet Adam Terrell of The Joshua House
03:27 The Case Against Prison: Cost, Debt, and the Victim
06:10 A Full Replacement System for Prison
08:29 The Model in Practice: A Drunk Driving Case
12:37 Church, State, and the Ministry Question
17:02 Cutting Jail Costs at the County Level
20:16 Bible Readings, Employers, and Rehabilitation
22:22 What If Someone Is Not Religious?
26:24 Mental Health and the Services Not Offered
29:45 Is Any of This Scalable?
40:16 Eye for Eye: The Corporal Punishment Argument
43:35 What Actually Lowers Recidivism?
52:23 Public Backlash Over Jobs
1:05:09 Where to Find Adam's Work

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