![Pickleball for Incarcerated Communities League Uses Pickleball to Help Prisoner Rehabilitation](/content/images/size/w1198h576/2024/07/06490fbc-9cb2-482e-9efb-a89172942e45-LOC_PrisonChapel_0716-1.webp)
Pickleball for Incarcerated Communities League Uses Pickleball to Help Prisoner Rehabilitation
Many have stories of how pickleball has changed their life.
Now, an organization called Pickleball for Incarcerated Communities League (PICL) is doing its part to create more of those life-changing stories within the incarcerated community.
What is PICL?
Pickleball for Incarcerated Communities League (PICL) was established with the belief that "organized sports can serve as a powerful tool for restorative justice."
According to the PICL website, its mission is to "introduce pickleball programs into correctional facilities, offering a holistic approach to rehabilitation that encompasses physical activity, skill acquisition, mental well-being, and social reintegration."
What PICL does
PICL is spearheading an effort to bring pickleball into prisons and jails nationwide. They developed a program in partnership with the Worcester (Mass.) House of Correction's S.T.O.P program (Substance Treatment Opportunity Program) that's provided successful results in helping inmates work together better and improve their daily lives.
They are currently offering programs in 10 different states across 40-plus facilities, hoping to expand even further.
The camaraderie on display and the happiness pickleball brings to these individuals is impossible to ignore after watching this video.
Other prison programs featuring pickleball
Of course, this isn't the first time we've covered a story about pickleball in prisons.
In May, we told the story reported by the Washington Post:
![](https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/content/images/size/w1200/2024/05/shutterstock_2356882259-1.jpg)
Last year, we published a story from Tennis Industry Magazine in our newsletter discussing pickleball's potential rehabilitative properties.
![](https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/content/images/2023/02/Screen-Shot-2023-02-03-at-11.50.13-PM.png)
We know there are many other stories like this, and you have to love how pickleball positively affects so many people.