People

Mission Management: Kevin Ryan was inspired by the lives of homeless and runaway kids who defied all expectations and beat the odds.

Warden Burl Cain has said prison is for predators, not dying old men, but Louisiana’s tough sentencing laws mean a lot of old men die while incarcerated.

In Louisiana, rape, armed robbery and murder warrant life without parole, so in a maximum-security prison like the one Cain runs at Angola, the result is that 95 percent of inmates die in prison.

That sobering reality led Cain to launch a hospice program that trains specially screened inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary to care for their dying “brothers” and be with them in their final journey.

Several NCR writers received honors at the Religion Newswriters Association 2012 awards competition, held at the organization’s annual conference Oct. 4-6 in Bethesda, Md.

At the awards ceremony on the conference’s final night, NCR editor at large Tom Roberts received the top prize for his book The Emerging Catholic Church: A Community’s Search for Itself, named the Nonfiction Book of the Year.