Chuck Colson and Prison Ministry

"Prisons today are the leper colony of American life."

So says the now late Chuck Colson in a short video on prisons in America.

I've been reflecting much on Colson's death that occured this past Saturday. I had
the privilege of hearing him speak twice, once at my graduation from RTS in
2006 and in February 2011 at the inauguration of Don Sweeting as RTS-Orlando
president. On both occasions I could have either shaken his hand or had my picture taken with him, but for whatever reason I didn’t.

From all the tributes I've been reading and video clips put out by Prison Fellowship and others, I believe he would have genuinely accepted my thanks for his talks, even if he would not have remembered my name afterwards. It seems it is in death that we are more appreciative of a person's life-work and Chuck Colson was an artist.  He was an advocate of producing a whole Christian world and life-view to affect the culture around us, but his most fundamental work was in ministering to the "least of these" in prisons.

May be this is why Colson's words, after passing into glory, have hit home in a way that his words in life did not because I have seen and heard similar things from my friend, Jeremy, whom I have written about twice. When a prisoner is released and the guard says, "See you in two weeks," this reflects not only the 70% recidivism rate, but also the attitude toward prisoners who may very well want to make it in life, but have no supporting network.

Even the best-run prisons are dangerous places. Where Jeremy is, it was highly unusual to have a lockdown due to violence. Now it is more commonplace. In a recent letter he writes,

Remember last year when we were locked down due to the assault on staff? Nowadays, it seems like every week there is a serious assault on staff and/or inmates. Inmates being carried out in amulances in critical condition are the norm. Officers being assaulted are no longer rare occurences. It seems the state is not trying to curtail this violence. The areas where this occurs are not being punished, so inmates feel free to act up with no repercussions. Officers turn their back when they see inmates rob, assault, and rape other inmates.

He continues,

As for me, I think that associating with the staff in the kitchen is causing me problems. In prison, inmates and staff are not supposed to be friends. My relationship with my bosses causes inmates who hate the managers to also hate me. When they can't take it out on the bosses, they do have the opportunity to take it out on me.

Prison reform is still necessary. Thankfully Jeremy added that these issues are being addressed. The difference between a prison and a leper colony is it was a person's conscious actions that put them there, but it is the lack of hope that ties the analogy together.

Jeremy does have such a network and he has plans for when he is up for parole in 2019. I don't know if he would be eligible for early parole, but I pray for that possibility.

The clip below features Jeremy in a promo for FOCUS Prison Ministries.

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