Prisoner Visitation and Support Records

Prisoner Visitation Service was founded in April 1968 to serve the increasing numbers of GIs who were resisting the Vietnam War and were being sent to brigs and stockades for their acts of conscience. The founding group included Rev. Robert Horton, a retired Methodist minister with years of prison visitation experience, as well as representatives from the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, the American Friends Service Committee, the National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors, and the War Resisters League. Later at least thirteen additional groups, including eight major denominational organizations, joined in sponsoring PVS's activities. Over the years, PVS staff and volunteers visited or wrote to thousands of men and women in military and civilian stockades and prisons. To reflect a growing outreach to prisoners who were not necessarily military objectors, the name of the organization was changed to Prisoner Visitation and Support in 1971. New emphases included coordination with other prison groups, raising awareness about prisons, training prison visitors, providing contact for prisoners with their families and others, and producing literature about PVS's efforts and interests. A 1974 Statement of Purpose states: "Our program is built on love and respect for the prisoners, affirming their basic humanity, as well as relating to prison administrators and staff in the same spirit. Our conscious orientation is a belief in, and commitment to, the power and centrality of non-violence."