Alabama Governor Bob Riley recently made a public plea asking churches across the state to help recently released inmates obtain the tools needed to enter back into society.

"It's about being able to break habits, hard habits they have developed and giving them a new way to think, a new way to process life" says Westgate Church of Christ Minister Brian Magnuson.

This is what Governor Riley hopes Alabama church communities can provide to the 11,000 prison inmates that are released back into the public every year.

Many churches across Alabama, just like Westgate Church of Christ, are helping recently released inmates find spiritual guidance, and help them better their lives.

"We offer specifically for them the very basics into Christianity, as well as family relationships, money management, decision making and spiritual relationships and we believe these are very important ingredients in helping them re-enter into society," Magnuson continued.

Lack of government funds prompted Governor Riley to turn to corrections facilities and churches.

He hopes the corrections facilities will provide churches with the proper tools to help those released get back on track.

"We believe it’s the best of all partnerships because it really picks up where the government leads off," Governor Riley said.

"Our churches are very invaluable, our churches are very interested in helping us out in this and we appreciate that," added Houston County Community Corrections Director Gary Knight.

The city is working to re-instate funding it recently lost for an out of prison, church mentorship program. They will find out if the funds are reinstated in the next week.