is what I call it. I try to down play this chair because it usually is holding someone that is having a catastrophic day. Early this week an inmate was having one of those days. He had just been arrested and his girlfriend who loves him had broken up with him. He is knowingly guilty of messing up. The deputies in bookin had heard him screaming for over an hour and ask if I could speak with him. The bookin area can look like an ER on a Saturday night in July with new arrests and lots of drug and alcohol influenced folks.
This gentleman was suffering from a serious broken heart. As he screamed and moaned I tried my best to make out what he was saying. I said very little, but just listened and prayed. Within a few minutes the Lord was faithful. He was calming down and talking. I believe the Lord created in all of us the ability to comfort one another when there is agreement.
Peace beyond Frankenstein Chairs Phil 4:7
Frankenstein Chair
Chapel Service Report for 7/20/11
by Carl Adams
8 men were in the Clark County Jail Bible Study/Service the night of 20 July 2011. Was informed on Monday afternoon of a new volunteer being placed with me for observing the service; his name was Steve. Steve and I had no contact prior to meeting each other at the jail. Steve gave his testimony of God’s deliverance from drug addiction and read from Psalm 40. I followed with reading from Psalm 136 and telling a true-life story which illustrated how God has given the Bible to prove His truth, and all the works of satan are lies. Both lessons Steve and I gave blended well together. We noticed when Steve talked that two of the men became red-eyed. Then when I talked the same to men became red-eyed again. At the session’s end the opportunity was given for anyone to accept Christ. Those same to red-eyed men accepted Christ, as noted with asterisks by their names in the inmate prayer requests below.
~Carl
· Phil Hubbard – Pray for God to watch over my family.
· Jeremy Brock – Pray for my family while I’m in here and that when I get out next week I can do what’s right and take care of my family.
· James Combs – Pray for my wife and brother.
· *Jack Spencer – Pray for my wife and kids, and that I get sent to West Central (rehab). I need the help to get off drugs. Let the pain go away in my lower back.
· Ralph Moore – Just pray for my family.
· *Damian Rios – Please pray for me and my family. Also for my family back in Mexico.
· JJ– Please pray for my girlfriend and kids, that they can see this time through.
When I was a teenager it wasn’t easy to get my attention. Especially when someone attempted to instruct me about life choices, but when we go through tough times hopefully we start to listen and learn. The inmates at the jail are enduring difficult times, which makes this a golden window to take advantage of. If you have tried to talk to an inmate when he is out you will find it difficult, but while incarcerated he becomes a great listener.
There is an enormous amount of time, money, and manpower that goes into incarcerating someone. It may start with the dispatcher taking the call, the police officer making an arrest, the deputy receiving the prisoner into the jail. The Judge, the prosecutor, possibly probation department, and the list goes on all working together to “put someone a way” into a very expensive facility. Now after all that work of putting someone in the jail what is this inmate going to be doing? They may unfortunately meet new connections that could give them more insight on how to further involve themselves in illegal activity (AKA crime school 101). So, we have all this manpower and overhead at a great cost to the public to put someone in a system that may increase their ability to continue this path with greater burden then before.
I am agreement of incarceration and we applaud the great effort of those that protect our community. So I believe the way to best address the issue of what to do while inmates are in jail is to support the Clark County Jail Chaplaincy. The Chaplaincy is in the jail full time with a Chaplain and many volunteers from all over the community. We are providing a Chapel service everyday and twice-on Sundays. We see as many as 40 inmates per month on a one on one bases. In 2010 we started mentoring 2 inmates for 10 weeks and 2011 and our goal is 8 inmates through 10 weeks of mentoring. Christmas we provide 120 inmate’s children with Christmas gifts. We provide inmates 4 times a year with socks, t-shirts, underwear, Bibles, and cookies in order to get create a bridge of trust to inmates. Our Lobby ministry works with the families of the incarcerated during inmate visitation, we are a support staff on call to the jail such as death notification, inmate requests, manning a phone line with the public, managing and creating IDs for all civilians, and more. We are here to support the Sheriff and deputies with personal counseling, weddings, and funerals. All this is provided at the tax payer cost of $0.
Recently an inmate wrote “Thanks for coming up here to see me!" "I gave my life to the Lord and when I went back to my cell I felt high on life. I asked God to show me the way to go. I have been telling people the message to get right with God before it’s too late. Everything will be OK I know it. One day I’ll understand everything. I came to jail for this reason, to get right with God.”
This young man completed 6 weeks of mentoring before he went to prison.
What can you do to help? We have an immediate need of funding. Partner up with us and support us financially on monthly bases because without donations we are not funded. Your donation goes straight to the ministry. We have no building expense and we don’t even have a phone bill. We do have representatives that can come and share more information about the Chaplaincy. We have 20 churches supporting us, but tell the other 180 we would love their support. Businesses and organizations can reap great benefits. Let’s get our community to rally around working with inmates while they are in the jail. Prayer and more prayer for the ministry.
The Jail Window
the springfield Paper 7/20/11