Incarcerated men join giving circles to redefine themselves

For one month each summer, roughly 60 middle-school students around Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, descend on the campus of Bucknell University to attend the Kaupas Camp. At the free day camp, organized by the local school district, Bucknell coaches run clinics in basketball, field hockey, and other sports. Campers can learn, for example, about ecology or how to play the drums. For some, it’s the first time they’ve set foot on a college campus. These opportunities are provided in large part by philanthropists serving long-term sentences at a nearby medium-security prison.

At the State Correctional Institute—Coal Township, about 250 men participate in the Lifeline Association, a giving circle that contributes to charities in the surrounding Pennsylvania coal region. Many of its members are incarcerated for life; the rest will have spent at least 10 years in prison by the end of their sentences.

The men in Lifeline were drawn to the camp’s mission to connect local kids with a range of extracurricular activities in hopes that they’ll discover a new passion to pursue during the school year. They understand that can help change a child’s trajectory and prevent kids from disconnecting from their community or even harming it.

David Dawud Lee, a founding member of Lifeline who is serving a life sentence for being on the scene of the shooting death of another young man, knows about disconnection. Interventions like the Kaupas Camp are critical for kids’ need to feel that they belong and are valued.

“If we have an opportunity to send a child to camp, to experience something that I never experienced in my lifetime,” Lee says, “I think that’s a wonderful thing.”

While Lifeline primarily contributes to charities that promote the well-being of children, the group has also given to...