Summary: Shining Light supports incarcerated individuals in rediscovering their strengths and potential through character-based coaching, creative expression, and large-scale educational programs. By focusing on human dignity and VIA Character Strengths, they are transforming how thousands of individuals across the United States experience personal growth, connection, and hope while behind bars.
For over 25 years, Shining Light has offered something rarely cultivated inside prison walls: the opportunity to reclaim agency and see oneself through a different lens. As Zech, who has spent 24 years incarcerated, puts it: “Shining Light taught us how not just to survive, but how to live. It gives us a chance to have humanity, to be real, and more importantly, to be vulnerable.”
That shift — away from survival and toward meaning — is at the heart of Shining Light’s work.
What began as a small youth choir in rural Pennsylvania has evolved into one of the most transformative correctional programs in the country — reaching more than 450,000+ incarcerated individuals with strengths-based tools rooted in VIA’s Character Strengths framework.
At the center of that evolution is founder Jeff Bohn, whose work aligned with positive psychology long before he had language for it. Discovering the research finally gave Jeff the language to Shining Light’s core belief: people flourish when we focus on what is right within them.
A Moment That Changed Everything
Shining Light’s earliest years focused on widening perspectives. While leading a youth choir at his church, Jeff saw an opportunity to go beyond singing to help young performers experience the world beyond what was familiar. What began as visiting culturally different churches evolved into performing arts productions shared across diverse communities. But everything shifted in 1999 when Shining Light entered a youth correctional facility for the first time.
Forty teens from rural Pennsylvania stood before an audience of 125 adolescent gang members from Chicago.
It was a moment that could have gone terribly wrong.
Instead, something remarkable happened.
“Through the arts and our message of hope, it bridged what seemed unbridgeable gaps,” Jeff explains. “We walked away knowing: there is a real need for hope here. And this is where we belong.”
For the next 15 years, Shining Light brought performing arts into facilities nationwide, from San Quentin to Rikers Island, often traveling with 90 volunteers and a trailer of staging equipment. The impact was undeniable. Facility leaders began asking what they were doing, because they saw changes happening they couldn’t explain through traditional “behavioral management.”
But Jeff knew the performing arts weren’t the core driver.
“We’d see people transform, not because they danced or sang, but because the experience showed them who they could be. We just didn’t yet have the language for it.”
Discovering Character Strengths: A Turning Point
In 2019 Shining Light formally embraced positive psychology and the VIA Character Strengths framework. “When I retook the VIA Survey after 16 years, it put words to what we’d been seeing in prisons for decades,” Jeff says. “It wasn’t about fixing what’s wrong. It was about elevating what’s strong.”
Shining Light leaned in immediately. In its 12-week small-group programs, participants identify and practice their character strengths, often for the first time. “So many say, ‘Nobody ever told me I had anything good in me,’” Jeff notes. “That moment shifts their whole mindset. They see themselves and others differently.”
Lou, a former participant preparing for reentry, experienced that shift firsthand. “I tore my old character down, the one I didn’t like, and started a new foundation with Shining Light,” he says. Through learning to apply his strengths, Lou rebuilt his sense of self and learned to express his emotions in ways others could understand. “People are amazed at who I was five years ago compared to who I am now.”
Beyond insight, participants develop practical skills. The program explores optimal use of strengths, emotional regulation, and pausing before reacting — building resilience that supports real reentry success.
A Program Built With — Not For — the Incarcerated Community
Shining Light’s modern programming was co-designed with individuals who spent decades in prison, combining lived experience with positive psychology. Matthew’s story reflects that co-creation in action.
He first encountered Shining Light while incarcerated, and was invited not just to participate, but to contribute. Over time, he stepped into leadership and, after his release, joined the organization as a staff member where he continues to shape the work from the inside out.
Rather than being defined by a diagnosis or deficit, Matthew was given agency. Without access to the survey, participants explored all 24 character strengths and identified those that felt most energizing and authentic. “Being told that I have all of them, and that I get to decide which ones resonate most, was incredibly empowering,” he shares.
“It reminded me that I have value,” Matthew says. “I realized that who I am in prison does not define me. I have the power to rewrite my own story using these strengths.”
This commitment to co-creation has shaped programs that are voluntary, scalable, culturally relevant, and anchored in character strengths.
The Loop: A Magazine Written by Incarcerated People, for Incarcerated People
One of Shining Light’s most remarkable innovations is The Loop, a five-issue-per-year magazine grounded in VIA Character Strengths & Virtues. Each issue explores a different strength through writing prompts, art, interviews, and reflection practices, with over half of the content created by incarcerated individuals.
The reach of The Loop is significant. As of February 2026, it is distributed across more than 1400 facilities and reaches over 50,000 incarcerated individuals through print and tablets each year. “People devour it,” Jeff says.
For Matthew, The Loop became more than a publication. “It gives people a platform to use their voice,” he explains. “I’ve seen men and women rise into leadership simply by being given the opportunity. It changes how they see themselves and how others see them.”
In environments where identity is often reduced to a single moment, The Loop offers something radically different: visibility, contribution, and belonging. By inviting incarcerated individuals to create, reflect, and lead, the magazine becomes a living expression of Shining Light’s core belief — that when people are seen through their strengths, they begin to shape stronger communities from the inside out.
What Strengths Look Like Behind the Walls
Shining Light’s impact extends far beyond program participation. By shifting how people see themselves and how they engage with others, the organization supports lasting changes in well-being, behavior, and learning – both inside and beyond prison walls.
To date, Shining Light has reached more than 450,000 incarcerated individuals, with over 90,000 participants completing the Learn Your Strengths course. Participants report significant gains in mindset and meaning, including improved emotional regulation, a renewed sense of identity, stronger relationships, and, often for the first time, hope for the future.
- 97% positive mindset change
- 96% increase in Hope (+38%)
- 94% increase in Gratitude (+39%)
These shifts translate into behavior. Participants report greater willingness to engage in constructive programming, with 51% more likely to join treatment programs and 38% more likely to enroll in college courses. Facilities also observe measurable outcomes, including a 21% decrease in violent incidents and a 48% increase in positive behavior reports.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shining Light expanded access through tablet-based programming on Edovo (learning platform), and is now offered in more than 1,400 prisons and jails across 48 states. Today, the Shining Light Foundations Course ranks among the top-performing programs on the platform.
Beyond the data, the impact is perhaps best reflected in the thousands of letters Shining Light receives each week. Many share the same realization: “No one ever told me I had strengths before. This changed how I see myself.”
“Prisons tell people 24 hours a day that they’re worthless,” Jeff explains. “VIA Character Strengths are water in a very dry desert.”
Overcoming a System Not Designed for Flourishing
The greatest challenge isn’t working with incarcerated individuals; Jeff says that part is easy. The challenge is working against a system designed around:
- Punishment over rehabilitation
- Deficits over strengths
- Compliance over flourishing
- Budget constraints rather than long-term outcomes
These conditions shape identity, making survival the goal instead of growth. By centering character strengths, Shining Light offers an alternative grounded in agency, dignity and possibility. “It gave me a foundation,” Zech shares. “It helped me understand that I deserve more, and that we as a community deserve more.” This shift creates a purpose where none existed before.
That foundation matters beyond the prison walls. “When life gets hard, and it will,” Jeff explains, “what keeps people from sliding backward is strengths like hope, resilience, and meaning. These tools give them that.”
Looking Ahead: A New Model of Human Flourishing in Corrections
Today, Shining Light is not just providing programming; it is redefining what is possible in correctional environments. They organization continues to:
- Expand tablet-based strengths courses
- Deepen collaborations with departments of corrections
- Broaden The Loop’s reach
- Advance research on Character Strengths in incarcerated populations
- Build systems that support long-term flourishing, not just short-term compliance
Jeff’s advice for an organization looking to bring positive psychology into challenging environments: “Keep it simple. Build relationships. Stick to the basics. And don’t give up. The negativity bias is strong in all of us, but so is our capacity for good.”
Across stories from Lou, Matthew, and Zech, one truth remains clear: when people are seen through their strengths, they begin to see themselves differently. And from that moment, everything changes.
About Shining Light: Shining Light is a nonprofit organization dedicated to human flourishing inside correctional facilities. Through positive psychology, the arts, and VIA’s Character Strengths, their programs help incarcerated individuals discover hope, identity, and meaning — transforming lives, culture, and community from the inside out. Learn more at shining-light.org.