Media & partnerships: info@picleague.org
Approved copy, logos, photos, impact data and our facility map for partners and press telling the story of the Pickleball for Incarcerated Communities League. Everything here is cleared for public use.
Updated October 2026. Facility counts are from PICL’s facility map, last updated August 2026.
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Bringing pickleball, and a second chance, inside America’s prisons.
PICL (Pickleball for Incarcerated Communities League) equips correctional facilities across the country with the paddles, nets, training, and coaching to bring America’s fastest-growing sport inside. We partner with volunteers and organizations locally to teach the game to staff and incarcerated individuals, building programs that sustain themselves long after we leave.
PICL (Pickleball for Incarcerated Communities League) brings America’s fastest-growing sport into correctional facilities across the country. We provide the equipment, training, and resources that facilities and volunteers need to teach the game, and we work alongside staff and incarcerated individuals to build programs that last. Pickleball is easy to learn, good for the body, and even better for community, which is exactly why it belongs behind the wall.
PICL (Pickleball for Incarcerated Communities League) was founded by formerly incarcerated individuals, pickleball players, and advocates who believe organized sport is a serious tool for restorative justice. PICL supplies correctional facilities with paddles, balls and nets, trains volunteer coaches to run an eight-session program, and teaches participants and staff to keep the game going on their own. Since its first session in 2023, PICL has brought pickleball to 88 facilities across 27 states, Washington, DC, and Canada. Learn more at picleague.org.
PICL brings organized pickleball into correctional facilities because sport is one of the few things that reliably builds patience, cooperation, and self-respect inside a prison. We supply the equipment, train the coaches, and leave behind a program that participants can keep running themselves.
Every partner facility gets the same four things.
12 paddles, 24 balls and 2 portable nets, matched to the facility’s playing surface. Enough for three courts of doubles.
One or two trained volunteer coaches from the local pickleball community, matched to a facility near them.
Eight 90-minute sessions, from first serve to doubles strategy, ending in a DUPR-rated tournament. A single-session clinic is available when a coach only gets one visit.
PICL trains a core group of participants and recreation staff to teach others, so play continues long after the coaches leave.
A lawyer who leads PICL’s operations, management and legal compliance. She brought PICL to Connecticut, where it now runs in every state correctional facility. Sarah is also Executive Director and General Counsel of the Last Prisoner Project.
A pioneer of pickleball in prisons. After a 2017 60 Minutes segment on Chicago’s Cook County Jail, he offered to teach there, then took the game to Rikers Island and San Quentin.
A USPTA-certified teaching pro for nearly 30 years who has coached in every Connecticut prison. He and his twin brother hold the Guinness record for the longest pickleball rally.
Leads fundraising, partnerships and strategy, and has taught pickleball at correctional facilities across New England. Cam is also Director of Operations at the Last Prisoner Project.
A communications and translation professional focused on reaching Spanish-speaking and underserved communities.
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Bringing pickleball, and a second chance, inside America’s prisonsReads in two seconds. Best for posters, banners and booth signage.
Using pickleball to transform our justice systemsPICL’s long-running line, used on our postcards and one-pager.
95% of people in prison come home. Make room for them on the court.From the PICL shirt. Pair with the source on the Impact tab.
We bring pickleball courts, coaches, and community into prisons, turning yard time into a second chance.
Pickleball is transforming lives behind bars. We build the courts, train the coaches, and bring the game inside.
Structured pickleball programming inside U.S. correctional facilities, building skills, community, and hope where it’s needed most.
Tag @picleague on Instagram. Character counts help with X’s 280 limit.
Pickleball is now played in 88 prisons and jails across 27 states, DC and Canada, thanks to @picleague. They bring the paddles, nets and volunteer coaches, then train players inside to keep the game going. Learn more: picleague.org
95% of people in state prisons will come home one day. @picleague is making room for them on the court, with pickleball programs in 88 correctional facilities and counting. picleague.org
$50 puts a paddle in play inside a prison. $750 equips a whole facility with paddles, balls, nets and a volunteer coach. Support @picleague: picleague.org/donate
Play pickleball? Teach it inside. @picleague matches volunteer coaches with correctional facilities near them and hands you a ready-made eight-session program. Sign up: picleague.org/get-involved
Got paddles collecting dust? @picleague puts them in the hands of players in prisons and jails across the country. Host a paddle drive at your club. Email info@picleague.org to get started.
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A print-ready postcard for counters, events, pro shops and paddle drop-off bins. It carries a QR code to picleague.org.
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Source: PICL facility map, last updated August 2026. Idaho’s four-prison statewide program counts as one facility.
Tap a state to see its facilities, or search by name.
Active in — states, DC
and Canada
Idaho runs as one statewide program across four prisons. Hawaii is launching. Last updated August 2026.
of people in prison come home. Make room for them on the court.
At least 95% of people in state prisons will be released at some point. Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Reentry Trends in the United States.Credit the source shown with each one.
PICL has brought pickleball to 88 correctional facilities across 27 states, Washington, DC, and Canada since its first session in 2023.
At least 95% of people in state prisons will be released and return to their communities.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
About two in three people released from state prison are rearrested within three years, and more than three in four within five years.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005 (67.8% within three years, 76.6% within five)
24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025, making it the country’s fastest-growing sport for the fifth year running.
Research on sports programs in prisons links them to better physical and mental health and to lower rates of criminal behavior.
Sources: Jugl et al., Journal of Quantitative Criminology; Sanchez-Lastra et al., Journal of Physical Activity and Health
| A gift of | Equips | Paddles | Nets | Balls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50 | One paddle | 1 | – | – |
| $100 | One net | – | 1 | – |
| $1,500 | 2 facilities | 24 | 4 | 48 |
| $3,750 | 5 facilities | 60 | 10 | 120 |
| $7,500 | 10 facilities | 120 | 20 | 240 |
| $15,000 | 20 facilities | 240 | 40 | 480 |
Average cost covers a facility’s equipment and coaching support. Source: PICL.
The moments that explain PICL best. Each links to the original coverage.
November 2023 · Connecticut
PICL ran its first session at MacDougall-Walker, Connecticut’s maximum-security prison. Within a year it had a Thursday-night tournament, daily open play and a Friday clinic, and incarcerated gym workers had become coaches for everyone else. PICL now runs in every Connecticut state facility.
Read ESPN’s profile
January 2025 · Connecticut
Seventeen players earned official DUPR ratings at MacDougall-Walker, scored with pen and paper because devices aren’t allowed. A rating is something players can carry onto any public court when they come home.
Read DUPR’s announcement
May 2024 · Massachusetts
WCVB’s Chronicle followed PICL into the jail’s S.T.O.P. substance-use treatment unit, where pickleball became part of daily recovery programming.
Watch the segment
2026 · Florida
PICL launched across the Florida Department of Corrections in 2026. With 16 facilities, Florida is now PICL’s largest state program.
See the facility mapEach quote has appeared in published coverage. Use them as written, with the attribution shown.
There’s an element that’s built into the game that creates more camaraderie than other sports.
One of the biggest benefits I see to the PICL program is reducing that sense of loneliness and isolation.
Our job is not to continue to punish people. They’re already here, they’ve already been sentenced.
They get to have things that let them feel some normalcy.
I’m a different person when I play.
They should be playing pickleball.
Pick the route that fits your audience. Every one of these is live today.
To start a partnership, email info@picleague.org.
All coverage on picleague.org/press.
PICL is a 2026 USA Pickleball Grow the Game grant recipient. Our partners include: