Seven members of the church traveled to Angola, also known as “The Farm,” from October 30 to November 3. The penitentiary is the largest in the country, housing more than 5,000 maximum security inmates, a majority of whom are serving lengthy sentences or are awaiting execution on Death Row. It has been estimated that only one in six of the inmates who enter the prison ever leave.
Once called the “the worst prison in America,” the Louisiana state penitentiary has undergone a revival in recent years. That revival has attracted the attention of people from across the country.
Hillside pastor Mae Elisa Cannon says she first learned of the prison in 2005, when she was leading the prison ministry as a pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. ”I read the book Cain’s Redemption and didn’t believe that the things that I read were true.”
The truth is that horrid conditions began to change after Warden Burl Cain arrived in 1995. An evangelical Christian, Cain pursued policies to increase attendance at chapels and allow participation in religious groups.
In an interview with Good News Magazine, Cain said, “I can teach skills and a trade, but if I don’t have a moral component I’ve just made a smarter criminal. People who are converted and love the Lord are moral people, and you don’t have problems with them being predators in your prison anymore. Not only do they love the Lord, they’re non-violent. They’re going to live out the Christian life in prison.”
His methods seem to be working. In less than 10 years, assaults in the prison have dropped by more than two-thirds.
Cain and others credit the spiritual changes. Today more than 2,000 inmates have committed their lives to Christ, six evangelical churches operate inside the prison, and an extension of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trains inmates for ministry and has graduated more than 120 people.
Some of the men act as missionaries to other prisons and are transferred so they can minister there, says Debbie Blue, who accompanied the group and serves as executive minister of the Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice for the Evangelical Covenant Church.
Blue, who is African American, says a meeting she had with one of the Anglo inmates was emblematic of the transformation taking place among the prisoners. After she had shared with the prisoner her experience with racism, he rolled up his shirtsleeve to show her two of the tattoos on his arm.
“One was of a swastika and other one was of Hitler,” Blue says. “He used to be a member of the Aryan brotherhood.” The inmate told her, “This is who I was; I’m not that anymore.” He added that he had never physically killed anyone, “but I’ve killed people through racism.”
Someone took a picture of Blue and the inmate standing side by side. “I can’t wait to get it,” she says.
Cannon became Hillside’s executive pastor in January and was excited to see the congregation’s commitment to serving prisoners. “We are exploring options for what it might mean for us to bring some of the reforms that have been put into place in Angola to the California prison system and are exploring options with San Quentin.”
Cannon, who had visited Angola in 2006, says Hillside members made the recent trip “to support the ministry of our brothers in Christ who are serving time in Angola” and see how powerfully God can work in the most unexpected of places.
During the trip, members engaged in several types of ministry. They met one-on-one with inmates, many of whom are confined to their cells 23 hours a day. “This is about the ministry of presence – sharing the love of Christ by spending a few minutes talking to the men, who have few visitors and few encounters with the outside world.”
The group also led chapel service and spent time with inmates who are seminary students. “I preached in the main prison chapel and our team led worship and shared testimonies,” Cannon says.
“Every member of our team says that their lives have been changed,” Cannon says. “We are committed to staying in relationship with the men of Angola as they are now a part of our spiritual family.”
Members of Hillside hope to continue the relationships they started and send a team at least once a year.
Cannon says she hopes other churches will consider ministries to prisoners. “In June 2006, there were over 2.2 million men and women in federal or state prisons and jails in the United States,” she notes. “Thousands of men and women are released every day into hostile social environments where they are not equipped to succeed and to make choices that will keep them out of returning to prison. It is the church’s responsibility to get involved and to show the love of Christ, extend compassion, and advocate for justice.”
