Pennsylvania - Tefillin Now Permitted In Prison

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, signed into policy, permitting Jewish inmates to have in their personal property a pair of Tefillin.
Until now Tefillin were permitted for use in the chapel only, as there was the fear of it being used for its unintended purpose.

At a meeting in September between Mr. John S. Shaffer Ph. D. Executive Deputy Secretary of the PA Department of Corrections and Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, Executive Director of the Aleph Institute in Pittsburgh, the former agreed to review the state policy once again, to see what he could do to modify the policy. Mr. Shaffer really made this his mission and lobbied hard for what is right and just.
We thank The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, for taking such a leap forward and allowing the Jewish inmates to put on Tefillin daily, said Rabbi Vogel.

Inmates who wish to put on Tefillin and do not have their own pair are able to write the Aleph Institute who will provide the Tefillin to them at no cost, as long as they agree to don them daily for the rest of their lives.

Religion in prison is the singular most effective rehabilitation tool according to Federal studies; it reduces recidivism by over forty percent! With a national rate of recidivism of over seventy percent, we should be doing all we can to rehabilitate and transform these men to becoming productive members of the community said Rabbi Vogel.