I've Been In and Out of Prison Hundreds of Times (The Prison Chronicles #1)

Am I Incorrigible?

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I have been in and out of prison hundreds of times. Am I a career criminal? If the “three strikes law” against repeat offenders were enforced, would I have struck out more times than Reggie Jackson (the major league baseball player with the most career strikeouts (2,597))?

Well, no; only about 80-to-100 times or so.

But the fact is that I go into prison voluntarily. And then I leave the same day. I’ve been doing this for eight years now.

How did I get involved in this? My brother was the impetus. He asked me once, “Do you know what the most fulfilling aspect of my ministry is?” (we are both Jehovah’s Witness ministers — a “job” that pays nothing monetarily but much in the way of satisfaction).

“No, what?” I dutifully replied.

“The prison ministry.”

“Really?” I eyebrows-raisedly responded. I would have never expected that. To do it because it needed to be done — to bite the bullet and make the sacrifice, that I could understand, but for it to be your favorite part of the ministry?!? I wondered if maybe my brother had “gone ‘round the bend.”

I didn’t think too much about it for a while; going into a prison and rubbing shoulders with felons wasn’t high on my want-to-do list, to put it mildly. But then, sometime later I was attending a Circuit Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses (a “Circuit Assembly” is a periodic gathering when several congregations meet together for a full day of religious instruction) where an announcement was made that help was needed in the prison ministry. I thought, “Well, I’ll give it a try, and see what I think of it.”

I approached the “brother” who put out the call for volunteers and told him I was willing to help out, at least on a trial basis.

I filled out the application, got “livescanned” (fingerprinted), got a TB test and, in due time, was accepted to go into the prison as a religious volunteer.

Although not mandatory, it is advised that when you go in, you check out an alarm from the guards at the control booth; that way, in case you need help (a detainee gets out of line, violence breaks out, someone has a medical episode, etc.) you can press the button on the alarm, and guards will come running.

On my very first day volunteering in the prison, I set off the alarm. More on that next time, in installment 2 of The Prison Chronicles.

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