August 16, 2010
Dear Friends,
Thank you, as always, for your continued support through donations and prayers for this ministry. Over the next several months, many faithful men who have attended our Thursday night Bible study will be released. I want to take this letter to give you an idea of some of the challenges they will face upon release.
Although release from prison is always much anticipated, inmates are confronted with mammoth changes in their lives and relationships. Most men who attend our Thursday night group have come to significant spiritual realizations that have meant real changes in their thinking and lifestyles for the first time in their lives. Although many of us memorize 2 Corinthians 5:17, these men can very much relate to “the old has gone, the new has come.”
But the biggest challenges they will face immediately are logistic. For example, their driver’s license has probably expired during their incarceration. Whether they have a car or not, they cannot legally drive. Most states will require a written test before re-issuing an expired license. In California, standards are higher for re-issued licenses than for first-timers. So if an inmate stays in California, he will need to study for the written driver’s test. From the way most of us Californians drive, you would never guess that the standards for issuing a driver’s license are so high.
Finding a job is also a priority, of course. These men are extremely well-trained by the US Military, but they are prohibited to work for the government ever again, and usually are unable to work for a government contractor (primarily because they will not be able to get the necessary security clearance). Because their conviction is a military record, it will not show up on a civilian background check for several months, or even years. This represents a significant temptation to the recently-released. If they lie on their job applications, they’ll get a decent job. If they tell the truth, finding a job will be much tougher. Large corporations cannot hire felons for even the most menial jobs—mainly for insurance reasons.
The good news on the job front is that the federal government will subsidize up to 50% of a recently-released felon’s first year of wages. But the subsidy comes through employers, and most employers are unaware of it, or unwilling to confront the paperwork.
Finding housing is also difficult, especially for inmates convicted of a sex offense. (At last report, 40% of the inmates at the brig were convicted of sex offenses.)
Although most inmates have someone who can send them clothes for them to wear upon release, if the prisoner has been locked up for more than a year, their old clothes will probably not fit. Most inmates either gain or lose weight during their time in prison.
It is my estimate that most inmates will need about $1000 during the first couple of months of their release to get them through these logistic challenges. Some of them have parents that can foot the bill; some of them have wives who can offset many of these problems. But many of them are completely unprepared for the mountain of decisions that stands in front of them upon release. For their entire incarceration, they’ve been told what to wear, when to get up, when to turn out the lights, and how much they can spend. Before that, they were taken care of by the US Military. Now, they are on their own, and it is not easy.
All of this is just the logistics of release from prison. The relational aspects are much more difficult as these men reunite with wives, children, parents, and friends. All of these people have real and valid reasons to resent the prisoner as he returns to society. But the prisoner, his faith real for the first time perhaps in his life, sees the command to reconcile, to ask forgiveness, and to live at peace with all others. He cannot hide from these broken relationships and still walk with the Lord Jesus.
The pressure from strangers is just as unsettling. We all do this—as soon as we meet someone and find out they’ve been in prison, we want to know what they’ve done. Wanting to know this is certainly reasonable. We want our kids to be safe; we want to be safe ourselves. We want to know, but we don’t want to ask. And the released prisoners can tell. Indeed, they’d probably be glad to tell you, but are afraid of your reaction. In the eyes of God, each of us is just as guilty as the next person. Each of us deserves the death that Jesus suffered for us. But on the human side of things, we haven’t done anything that has sent us to prison, although we have probably thought things many times that should.
Churches, too, have a difficult time knowing what to do with ex-offenders. Sometimes, when churches hear of their conversions and the ministries they’ve had in prison, they encourage the men to get involved in church ministry far too early. One man on parole I know was asked to be in charge of a church youth group. Simply put, that’s not a good idea. Other times, churches will require ex-offenders to be accountable in oppressive ways. For example, requiring a deacon to “escort” the ex-offender during the time he’s at church. I know these examples seem extreme, but both examples are true. Most churches tend toward one extreme or another, and churches rarely ask for help from people or organizations that work with ex-offenders.
It is my intention that the Bible study that I do with prisoners helps to prepare them for release. It is my observation that many prison ministries are more interested in helping prisoners “cope” with incarceration than in preparing them to adjust to real life. I frequently tell prisoners that the Christian life in prison is much easier than the Christian life of an ex-offender. The communication I receive from released prisoners confirms this over and over again.
So please take a minute today and pray for the recently-released. And pray for those who are going to be soon released.
Grace and Peace,
Ben Conarroe
PS. Those of you who have received my letters for a long time will remember that I worked with college students at the University of Toledo from 1987 to 1994 with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. On September 4, we are planning a reunion of students from that group. If you are part of that group, you’re invited. If you know someone from that group, please pass their contact information to me, or mine to them, so we can invite them also.
Dear Friends,
Thank you, as always, for your continued support through donations and prayers for this ministry. Over the next several months, many faithful men who have attended our Thursday night Bible study will be released. I want to take this letter to give you an idea of some of the challenges they will face upon release.
Although release from prison is always much anticipated, inmates are confronted with mammoth changes in their lives and relationships. Most men who attend our Thursday night group have come to significant spiritual realizations that have meant real changes in their thinking and lifestyles for the first time in their lives. Although many of us memorize 2 Corinthians 5:17, these men can very much relate to “the old has gone, the new has come.”
But the biggest challenges they will face immediately are logistic. For example, their driver’s license has probably expired during their incarceration. Whether they have a car or not, they cannot legally drive. Most states will require a written test before re-issuing an expired license. In California, standards are higher for re-issued licenses than for first-timers. So if an inmate stays in California, he will need to study for the written driver’s test. From the way most of us Californians drive, you would never guess that the standards for issuing a driver’s license are so high.
Finding a job is also a priority, of course. These men are extremely well-trained by the US Military, but they are prohibited to work for the government ever again, and usually are unable to work for a government contractor (primarily because they will not be able to get the necessary security clearance). Because their conviction is a military record, it will not show up on a civilian background check for several months, or even years. This represents a significant temptation to the recently-released. If they lie on their job applications, they’ll get a decent job. If they tell the truth, finding a job will be much tougher. Large corporations cannot hire felons for even the most menial jobs—mainly for insurance reasons.
The good news on the job front is that the federal government will subsidize up to 50% of a recently-released felon’s first year of wages. But the subsidy comes through employers, and most employers are unaware of it, or unwilling to confront the paperwork.
Finding housing is also difficult, especially for inmates convicted of a sex offense. (At last report, 40% of the inmates at the brig were convicted of sex offenses.)
Although most inmates have someone who can send them clothes for them to wear upon release, if the prisoner has been locked up for more than a year, their old clothes will probably not fit. Most inmates either gain or lose weight during their time in prison.
It is my estimate that most inmates will need about $1000 during the first couple of months of their release to get them through these logistic challenges. Some of them have parents that can foot the bill; some of them have wives who can offset many of these problems. But many of them are completely unprepared for the mountain of decisions that stands in front of them upon release. For their entire incarceration, they’ve been told what to wear, when to get up, when to turn out the lights, and how much they can spend. Before that, they were taken care of by the US Military. Now, they are on their own, and it is not easy.
All of this is just the logistics of release from prison. The relational aspects are much more difficult as these men reunite with wives, children, parents, and friends. All of these people have real and valid reasons to resent the prisoner as he returns to society. But the prisoner, his faith real for the first time perhaps in his life, sees the command to reconcile, to ask forgiveness, and to live at peace with all others. He cannot hide from these broken relationships and still walk with the Lord Jesus.
The pressure from strangers is just as unsettling. We all do this—as soon as we meet someone and find out they’ve been in prison, we want to know what they’ve done. Wanting to know this is certainly reasonable. We want our kids to be safe; we want to be safe ourselves. We want to know, but we don’t want to ask. And the released prisoners can tell. Indeed, they’d probably be glad to tell you, but are afraid of your reaction. In the eyes of God, each of us is just as guilty as the next person. Each of us deserves the death that Jesus suffered for us. But on the human side of things, we haven’t done anything that has sent us to prison, although we have probably thought things many times that should.
Churches, too, have a difficult time knowing what to do with ex-offenders. Sometimes, when churches hear of their conversions and the ministries they’ve had in prison, they encourage the men to get involved in church ministry far too early. One man on parole I know was asked to be in charge of a church youth group. Simply put, that’s not a good idea. Other times, churches will require ex-offenders to be accountable in oppressive ways. For example, requiring a deacon to “escort” the ex-offender during the time he’s at church. I know these examples seem extreme, but both examples are true. Most churches tend toward one extreme or another, and churches rarely ask for help from people or organizations that work with ex-offenders.
It is my intention that the Bible study that I do with prisoners helps to prepare them for release. It is my observation that many prison ministries are more interested in helping prisoners “cope” with incarceration than in preparing them to adjust to real life. I frequently tell prisoners that the Christian life in prison is much easier than the Christian life of an ex-offender. The communication I receive from released prisoners confirms this over and over again.
So please take a minute today and pray for the recently-released. And pray for those who are going to be soon released.
Grace and Peace,
Ben Conarroe
PS. Those of you who have received my letters for a long time will remember that I worked with college students at the University of Toledo from 1987 to 1994 with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. On September 4, we are planning a reunion of students from that group. If you are part of that group, you’re invited. If you know someone from that group, please pass their contact information to me, or mine to them, so we can invite them also.
