Inmates and kids

A little over two years ago I spent a memorable night in lockdown at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. In the cell to my right was Sam Brownback, the senator from Kansas who was there to kick off what became a short-lived run for the presidency. In the cell to my left was a serial rapist incarcerated for life. Just down the row was a Medellin drug cartel assassin. As in all real estate, the key was location, location, location.

But what really made the prison special was what Christ is doing in there. Under the leadership of Warden Burl Cain, the prison has been open to many ministries, and many prisoners have apparently been born again. It was joyful to get around the prison and hear them. Out of that spiritual change have arisen many programs, including the annual Returning Hearts Celebration. Last year 730 children of inmates came to the prison for a day of games, food, crafts, and pony rides that promote bonding and reconciliation between kids and dads, and within families. Over 1,000 children are scheduled for this year's event on March 28, a joint effort between the penitentiary and Chicago-based Awana, an international youth and children's ministry.

Such a program affects families and also makes waves outside them, because children of an incarcerated parent are seven times more likely than their peers to commit crimes and land in prison themselves. It's vital to change that intergenerational pattern by showing kids what not to do but also by showing that even in prison people can change through Christ. Furthermore, the radical egalitarianism evident in Chapter 3 of Romans shows that all of us sin and are criminals in God's eyes, apart from Christ, so children of prisoners should not feel that others are good and that they are marked as particularly bad by heredity. Awana now plans to expand the program to seven more prisons, including San Quentin in California.