Freedom Behind Bars

On Monday I received a letter from some seminary students, thanking me for my service as a member of the Board of Trustees at New Orleans Baptist Seminary. The students indicated that they were praying that God would grant us wisdom and discernment in the decisions we make concerning the direction of the seminary. The brief letter, signed by seven students and one staff member was a pleasant surprise. It's always nice knowing that someone is praying for you. Although I have met a number of NOBTS students over the past few years, these names were unfamiliar to me - and for good reason.

Ricky Holloway, Joseph Crosley, Bobby Smith, Mack Wiltcher, John Hester, James Wash and Michael Rushing are all students of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, but it is not likely that I will ever see them on the beautiful campus on Gentilly Boulevard. That's because these "non traditional" students are inmates of the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, MS. The NOBTS staff member who also signed the letter was Dr. Johnny Bley, Director of the Parchman Extension center of the Seminary. Seminary students behind bars? Unusual, but not a recent phenomena. Parchman is actually the second venture by NOBTS in taking seminary education behind prison walls. The story actually has it's beginnings at Angola State Prison in Louisiana - the largest maximum security prison in America.

Thirteen years ago, when Burl Cain became Warden, Angola was best described as "America's Hell Hole Prison". It was a place where three out of four inmates were serving life sentences for violent crimes. When you came to Angola with a life sentence, the only way you were going to leave was feet first, with a tag on your toe. Drugs, murder, and assaults were everyday problems at Angola. In 1995 there were 799 reported cases of inmate assualts on other inmates and 192 attacks on guards. By 2007 the number had dropped 78 inmate assaults and 19 on guards. What happened? The prison has found Jesus!

Today, Christianity is everywhere in Angola State Prison. Preachers and other volunteers flock to the place to take part in various ministries. An in house radio station offers Christian programming 24/7, and hundreds of prisoners are enrolled in four year seminary courses. Scores have graduated and are doing various ministries - behind bars.

The turnaround began when Warden Cain witnessed his first execution at Angola. A devout Christian, Cain felt convicted when he presided over the death of a man who was being executed by lethal injection for murder. Cain was tormented for days by the fact that he "held the man's hand while he left this world for Hell" - and he (Cain) had done nothing to tell him about God's love for him and His offer of redemption. The warden set out to change the prison with a message of Grace.

Make no mistake. Cain is not a softy or a bleeding heart. He is a strict disciplinarian, and the rules of the prison are non negotiable. The inmates there are criminals - violent criminals - and are treated as such. The difference is, Cain has offered them hope. Hope to be set free - truly free - even though their future is behind bars. The results have been astounding!

Of course, not every inmate is involved in Bible studies and prayer groups. Satan still patrols the cell blocks and his influence is still present in Angola. But all of the prisoners have the opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel, and hundreds of formerly desperate inmates have done just that. As revival spread throughout the penetentiary, Warden Cain realized that these new believers needed a closer walk with the Lord and a deeper understanding of the scriptures. A Southern Baptist himself, Cain contacted Dr. Chuck Kelley, President of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to explore the possibility of an extension center at Angola. Within Dr. Kelley beats the heart of an evangelist so the rest, as they say, is history.

Every weekday, more than one hundred men fill classrooms in a prison building to study the Bible and take classes toward an accredited college degree. The amazing thing is that Angola's seminary extension is now producing convict missionaries. Each year after Graduation, the prison sends out graduates "two by two" to other prisons in Louisiana. Ron Hicks, 34, also serving life for murder, hopes to be one of them. He is a graduate of the seminary and would like to preach in other jails. 'It all depends on where God calls me,' he said. 'You can walk through my wing now and see the games room with people praying. You see Bible studies going on.' So far more than 20 graduates, trained to spread their religion, have left Angola to serve their sentences in other jails. They have set up their own ministries in their new prisons.

Cain's critics claim that he has gone too far. They say he is blurring the line of separation of church and state. One state legislator has complained to the ACLU. However, in the midst of the criticism, the fact remains that Angola is a changed place. The "proof in the pudding" is that Mississippi prison officials have been so impressed with the change of the quality of life at Angola, they have also started the new NOBTS extension at Parchman. In fact, two other states are also considering making such a move.

I don't know if I will ever have the privilege of meeting inmates Holloway, Crosley, Smith, Wiltcher, Hester, Wash, or Rushing, but I am certainly praying for them and for much success in their studies and their ministry.

God certainly does work in mysterious ways!