6 Things I Learned From Going to Jail

Last week I had the pleasure of touring the county jail at the invitation of the Sheriff’s Office. The church I pastor is looking to make a difference outside the four walls of our building, and we figured the local jail might be a good place to start. After spending two hours touring the facilities and talking with officers and inmates, here are six truths I walked away with:

1. Your environment dictates your action. There are always exceptions to this rule, and environments never negate your responsibility to choose wisely, but I was heavily reminded about the power of the environments we put ourselves in. Talking with the captain and lieutenant who run the jail, both of whom are professing Christians, they both were able to tell me of times they tried to help an inmate back on their feet after they were released, only to see them relapse back into a life of crime. The common denominator was the home environment. If an inmate was serving two years on a drug charge, it didn’t matter how much they wanted to change, if they went back into a home environment where there were drugs and drug use, they were going to relapse. Some people can’t escape a life of crime simply because they can’t escape their family.

2. A few people want to change, but most don’t. Much like my work with recovering addicts, breaking free from a life of crime doesn’t begin until you actually want to change. The jailers could quickly point out inmates who were legitimately trying to change the trajectory of their lives and those who were simply marking time until they could get out and hopefully do a better job of not getting caught. From the jailers perspective, the ones who truly wanted to change were few and far between.

3. Hope goes a long way. The one word that continually came up during our discussions was ‘hope’. Inmates desperately need hope for any chance to succeed. The county jail uses a reward system where inmates can get extra privileges (these inmates are called ‘trustees’). Those are the ones that get to go outside and pick up trash on the side of the highways. Inmates work hard for those privileges. Hope is a powerful motivation.

4. Some inmates have the desire to succeed but not the tools. This is where non-profits like a church can come in. In talking with the trustees who were soon to be released, they genuinely wanted to change, but they lacked some of the tools to succeed on the outside. Some of them needed to get their G.E.D., some needed addiction help to break free from the problems that put them in jail in the first place. A big need was something as simple as interview skills to help get a job and a knowledge of places that were willing to hire people with the criminal record. Much like rehab, people need some type of after care if they hope to assimilate and succeed in real life.

5. Never trust addicts. At the end of the day, you have to take everything an inmate (or an addict) says with a heavy grain of salt. They will sweet talk you as they milk you dry. They are master manipulators. A spirit of wisdom and discernment is needed to be able to successfully work with those who have grown adept at lying and manipulating.

6. The harvest is plentiful. As long as there’s sin in the world, pastors and jailers will never be out of a job. If the church is willing to roll up its sleeves and step into the mess, there are countless souls and families needing to be redeemed.

Please pray for my church as we begin a ministry to soon-to-be-released ‘trustees’ and their families that aims to help them assimilate back into and succeed in today’s society.