Bible Institute Opens Campus in Puerto Rico

Crossroad Bible Institute (CBI) has launched a new satellite campus in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The campus has already enrolled 92 students and trained over 40 instructors under the direction of long-time prison chaplain Madeline Garcia.

CBI, which is recommended for support by the Christian Reformed Church, has served Puerto Rican students for many years, due largely to Garcia’s efforts to personally distribute and collect lessons throughout the island’s prisons.

However, without indigenous support, these lessons had to be processed through CBI headquarters in the United States, which nearly doubled lesson turnaround rates.

Garcia eventually realized that establishing a self-sufficient satellite campus would be the best solution to streamline lesson processing.

Statistics suggest that there is a great need for the long-term discipling of prisoners in Puerto Rico. The territory has an incarceration rate of about 332 per 100,000 people and cocaine trafficking has nearly quadrupled in the last seven years, leaving a trail of corruption, violence and addiction.

Garcia has worked for many years to address these problems and bring rehabilitative programs to Puerto Rico’s prison population.

CBI Puerto Rico will serve as a key piece in this mission, specifically at the two rehabilitation centers Garcia founded for newly released prisoners.

CBI is a nonprofit prison ministry with 45,000 active students studying through satellite campuses on six continents. The program is provided at no cost to prisoners and their families. Visit www.cbi.tv for more information.