'More God, less crime'

INDIANAPOLIS—The headline above is Byron Johnson’s conclusion and the title of the book he wrote from his prison ministry research. Here in Indianapolis, Gregg Keesling has taken up Johnson’s theme, helping inmates leave prison.

Keesling has tackled a tough problem. At least 5,000 inmates come back to the city each year, usually with no job prospects. Many return to crime, then back to prison.

But Keesling offers a different option at RecycleForce. At an old warehouse, those transitioning out of prison get sheltered work for several months. Similar to Goodwill, RecycleForce takes in old TVs, computers, refrigerators and printers. Workers then shred the electronics equipment and sell the parts, earning about $1.5 million a year. With another $2.5 million in grants, the organization employs about 300 men a year, along with a few women.

“Work is therapy,” says Charles Neal, better known as “Preach.” He’s the warehouse manager who worked his way up in the organization after time in prison. Employees punch a time clock, which not only yields a paycheck but also gives the courts and probation officers some accountability for the ex-inmates.

“We are work release without the beds,” Keesling pointed out.

He doesn’t look like a businessman running a $4 million operation. Think more like an energetic social worker with a ponytail and a 1960s social conscience.

Keesling is a descendant of idealistic Quakers who freed their slaves and came to eastern Indiana before 1816 statehood. His Underground Railroad ancestors helped slaves get to freedom in Canada.

He launched RecycleForce to help inmates get a job and back on the straight-and-narrow path. He is somewhere on the left side of the political spectrum, but his work gets applause from political figures on the left, the middle, and the right.

Keesling has seen the point of Johnson’s research: prayer and commitment to Christ can help people overcome life’s challenges, including the effort to turn from a life of crime.

He doesn’t claim to be a man of deep Christian faith. For bottom-line business reasons he does welcome churches to send volunteers to come and help at RecycleForce, whether with their business connections or with those who want to pray. Networking with church people might lead to a job. And it can’t hurt to pray about it all.

Warehouse manager Preach Neal challenges churches to remember Matthew 25:36 (“I was in prison and you came to me”) and adopt RecycleForce as a mission field.

Keesling voices a quiet amen: “If I see faith working in a person’s life, I would be a fool to try to stop it. I don’t mandate it, but I see that it works.”