I could hear my heart pounding inside my chest as I walked down the long, dimly lit corridor. Doors to cells lined the walls, and through the bars I could make out a small space occupied by bunk beds and other miscellaneous items. A part of me was trying to only look forward, as not to make eye contact with anyone inside the prison cell, but my eyes kept straying. My camera hung by my side, a special request put in by the ministry in order to document and record the prison program. I could see the room at the end of the hall, and my heart began to beat even louder.
I don’t know what I expected to find at the end of the hall, or why my hands were shaking and my palms sweating, all I knew was that I felt entirely out of my element. I realized until this moment, I had never once set foot inside a physical prison before. Six of us girls walked into the room, and we were met with twenty five young men, sitting down, quiet and staring at us. If you know me you know that when I feel awkward I wear it on my sleeve, and my demeanor is usually followed by an even more awkward statement. I looked at my teammate and nervously laughed, “I don’t know what I expected, but I didn’t expect them to be this good looking!”
We began introducing ourselves and what we did, and I made it a point to state that if they felt uncomfortable having their photo taken to just approach me and tell me, or wave no, but that I would be photographing this session. However as it began I couldn’t just start photographing, I hadn’t even had a conversation yet, so I sat down and started playing cards with a group of guys instead. We played Uno, Kemps, checkers, and attempted poker, though the no chips and language barrier made it a bit difficult. They were so much fun! They kept pretending like they were looking at our cards, laughing at our competitiveness, and just asking questions and getting to know us.
I felt my body completely relax, and I got up and began to take photos. I looked around the table at the smiling faces and the laughter, and I honestly felt like I was sitting at a table with people I had known my whole life. And thats when it hit me… they were just like anybody else that I knew, except that they got caught and put away for a bad choice. Yes, some were in for more major crimes, but most of the men were here for minor crimes such as theft, possession of drugs, concealing important information, fights, and some were still waiting a trial.
I felt extremely convicted, maybe I had been so nervous because I had a pre-conceived idea of who they were. Who was I to judge them? How many times in my own life had I made terrible decisions? If anything, I should be able to sympathize with being in prison, because the only difference between me and the person sitting across the table was that I had lived in my mental one, and they were currently stuck in a physical one.
I literally had the words “set me free” tattooed on my back, taken from the bible verses in Romans 7: 22-25, talking about the law and sin.
“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will set me free from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
While working at the prison I have learned that the reason you cannot judge a book by its cover is because you have no idea the story that lies underneath.
The Lord is the only one who truly sees our heart, He knows the depths of it, and that is why He is the one true judge.
The truth is that we are all sinners, we have all made mistakes, but we have also been SET FREE, and in Jesus there is compassion, grace, love, and forgiveness! He loves us all the same. WE DON’T HAVE TO LIVE IN SHACKLES, and no matter what kind of prison you are in, you don’t have to stay there, you can choose to walk in freedom, in the truth of all that you really are in Jesus Christ.
He calls us to love others, and I know He put us women in this prison for a purpose. We have all been set free from our own different prisons, and we know what the Lord can do, and we know how much He loves them. Even if these guys are coming because they are bored and get to spend a few hours talking to six young women, the fact of the matter is they are still coming… they are still hearing what is being said… and you never know the power of the seeds that are being planted.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4: 18-19
