PERSPECTIVES

Faith-based prison programs seek to transform lives through an inner change BY ADRIAN CUMMING

In Spring 1995, Charles “Chuck” W. Colson, former Special Counsel in the Nixon White House, asked his friend, Carol S. Vance, Chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, to join him and a think tank group on a visit to Humaita Prison in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Colson described to Vance the Humaita Prison site as once being so bad, the government had condemed it. Now, he said, the Christians running it had cut the recidivism rate to less than 10 percent compared to 75 percent in the rest of the country. For Colson and Vance, going on this trip to Brazil marked the beginning of a revolution in the way some prisons in the United States operate.

Both Carol Vance and Chuck Colson had storied careers. Before being appointed to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, Vance served for fourteen years as the District Attorney of Houston, Texas, and surrounding Harris County; as Chairman of the Texas Law Enforcement Committee; and on the Governor’s Criminal Justice Council. Charles Colson was a noted attorney who became known as Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man,” and in 1974, he entered Alabama’s Maxwell Prison for a one- to three-year sentence on Watergate-related charges. Having experienced a personal conversion to Christianity and inspired by this time in prison, Colson founded Prison Fellowship Ministries, which, in collaboration with churches of all confessions and denominations, would become the world’s largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners, crime victims, and their families.

Arriving at the Humaita Prison gate, where convicts inside the walled compound were doing time for murder, robbery, and drug-related crimes, Colson, Vance, and their team were startled when an inmate opened the gate. In fact, there was not a single armed prison guard in the entire unit. As they toured the prison, the group

Left: InnerChange Freedom Initiative participants working with Houston’s Habitat for Humanity Opposite: Edgar Michael Lee, Executive Director, Operation Oasis; Juanita Lee, administrative assistant, Operation Oasis

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saw clean living areas, inmates working, Bible study classes in progress, and counseling sessions to help the inmates deal with drug and alcohol addictions. Their guide escorted them to the notorious prison cell once used for torture. As the guide slowly swung open the heavy metal door, Colson and Vance’s group saw a beautifully carved wood statue of Jesus hanging on the cross. “He’s doing time for the rest of us,” said the guide.

When the group returned home, Prison Fellowship decided to initiate a prison rehabilitation program based on Humaita Prison for the United States, and Vance suggested Texas as the best place to start. Then the Governor of Texas, George W. Bush, a proponent of faith-based ministries, took an interest in the project. The program was designated the InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), and selected a 378-bed prison unit in Richmond, Texas.

IFI stated that their program is a “revolutionary, Christ-centered, Bible-based prison program supporting prison inmates through their spiritual and moral transformation beginning while incarcerated and continuing after release.” The goal is to “facilitate the life transformation of the member by eliminating the thinking process that led to the incarceration, rebuilding the member’s value system, and establishing a solid foundation for productive growth.”

Today, the prison in Richmond has been renamed the Carol S.Vance Unit. While the state covers the security and operating costs, Colson’s Prison Fellowship provides the funding for IFI program staff, educational materials, and volunteer training.

IFI’s three-phase program involves prisoners who volunteer to participate in 16 to 24 months of in-prison programming and six to twelve months of aftercare while on parole. Inmates deficient in reading, writing, and arithmetic get special training. Community Bible Study, Kairos Ministry, and a host of other volunteers and church groups come to the unit. Christian men from the community meet with IFI inmates to mentor one-on-one for a minimum of two hours a week. Prison violence and intimidation is nonexistent, and biblical concepts of integrity, taking responsibility, and forgiving others are hallmarks of the program. Even victims participate in reconciliation programs in an effort to reconcile the inmate with God, family, the community, and the victim.

Phase two of IFI’s program is to emphasize service to the community, and many of IFI’s members participate in Habitat for Humanity projects. When Habitat for Humanity put up one hundred homes in the Houston area, the IFI men were the first ones to complete their house.

The final phase of InnerChange Freedom Initiative is the aftercare program, which provides post-release assistance. Operation Oasis, a 501(c)(3) organization which was the vision of Leslie W. Smith, Senior Pastor of North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship, is an IFI-approved aftercare provider. Michael Lee, Executive Director of Operation Oasis, brings a unique perspective to working with the IFI members who are released to his care. After serving 27 years in law enforcement and working as an FBI agent, Mr. Lee says that his background exposed him to a “culture about surviving,” and that he “witnessed the failings of social and criminal justice systems which gave him a heart to understand the challenges facing formally incarcerated persons.”

Once an IFI member is released to an IFI aftercare provider such as Operation Oasis, he must remain drug- and alcohol-free, maintain a steady job, and complete the 80-hour Life Skills course taught at the Operation Oasis classrooms. Operation Oasis assists in vocational training, housing resources, educational opportunities, and such basic needs as getting a reliable automobile.

Six years after Prison Fellowship embarked on this bold

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experiment with the State of Texas to launch the first all-Christian prison, a University of Pennsylvania study gave high marks to the InnerChange Freedom Initiative. Criminologist Byron Johnson directed the study during those years and reported “only eight percent of the inmates who completed the full IFI program returned to prison within two years after their release.” The State of Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council conducted it’s own independent study and, in February of 2003, reported “significantly lower recidivism rates of eight percent for IFI graduates compared with a 36 percent recidivism rate for Valentine of Huntsville, Texas, is a program that involves church volunteers from across the state who greet and assist newly released inmates who otherwise have no one to meet them as they get off the bus when they reach home. Exodus Ministries, directed by John Leonardson, is another organization devoted to helping ex-offenders and their families get back on their feet.

In his 2004 State of the Union address, President Bush called on the nation to assist released prisoners. “We know from much experience that if they can’t find work, or a home,

Prison violence and intimidation is nonexistent, and biblical concepts of integrity, taking responsibility, and forgiving others are hallmarks of the program.

those inmates who did not complete the program.”

Based on the findings that the IFI program lowers recidivism rates, Kansas, Iowa, and Minnesota state prisons operate similar IFI programs, and six other states are contemplating startups. The British have also instituted an IFI program at 200-year old Dartmoor Prison in Princetown, south of London, with the help of a former IFI Vance Unit staff member.

The success of faith-based initiatives in and out of prisons has resulted in far-ranging support for the cause. Excon Foundation, Inc., started by Betty Culbreath of Dallas, has partnered with apartment owners such as AmeriSouth Realty to provide affordable housing. First Contact, directed by David or help, they are much more likely to commit more crimes and return to prison,” he said.

Today, more than ever, faith-based initiatives working within the criminal justice system are producing positive results. State prisons, therapy providers, parole, probation, and other law-enforcement agencies, in partnership with churches, volunteers, charitable groups, and foundations are making a real difference towards the quality of life for the communities served.

Above: Chuck Colson, chairman and founder of Prison Fellowship; Carol Vance; Tommy Dorsett, Head of IFI at the Carol Vance Unit; Larry Oliver; Governor George W. Bush

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