Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS) is a non-profit organization based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. Trained PVS volunteers visit prisoners in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Federal Prison system and

military prisons A military prison is a prison operated by a military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authorities, and members o ...

. They offer companionship and friendship, with no religious or other agenda. Their particular focus is prisoners who don't receive regular visits, are facing long sentences, and/or are in solitary confinement. PVS visitors come from a variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds, and the organization is supported by a wide variety of religious groups. Since 1972, PVS has enjoyed blanket permission from the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

to visit at all federal prisons and with any federal prisoner in the United States. In 1975, the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

granted PVS similar access to all military prisons. Prisoner Visitation and Support was founded in 1968 by long-time prison visitors and activists Fay Honey Knopp and Bob Horton, in part as a support to

conscientious objectors A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecti ...

and other draft resisters in the Federal system. As the

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

era ended and conscientious objectors were released, the group's mission expanded to embrace all federal and military prisoners in need of support and visitation.

References

External links

Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS) official web site
Prisons in the United States Prison-related organizations {{Org-stub