Life After Prison

In His famed parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus speaks directly about our lives being held to account on a number of issues:

I was hungry and you gave me no meal.
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.
I was homeless and you gave me no bed.
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes.

Most people resonate with those and feel compassion. But Jesus wasn’t done.

I was sick and in prison, and you never visited.

Some write this off as speaking only to those who may have been wrongly imprisoned or imprisoned for their faith. Sorry, there’s a word for that: eisegesis, which means you are reading that into the text, as opposed to exegesis, which is getting it from the text.

Jesus said what He said. We are to care for those in prison. Visit them. Minister to them.

The point of Jesus’ teaching is to care for those who are in need. Those in prison may be the hardest to care for. We find ourselves conflicted: Aren’t they being punished? Aren’t they getting what they deserve?

But if I am personally convicted by the words of Jesus for my lack of compassion and attention to those in prison, I recently found myself just as stricken with guilt for another dynamic of incarceration: when they are released.

No matter what your feelings may be about those in prison, why is there so little concern for those who have been released? 

The University of Alabama, along with the U.S. Attorney’s office, recently held a reentry simulation as part of a nationwide effort to increase empathy for people leaving prison. (By the way, 95% of the people who are incarcerated are going to eventually come out. Many are released after 15, maybe 20 years, with $10 and a bus ticket.)

The simulation begins with the participants receiving a list of tasks to complete at stations around the gym, such as to visit the probation office, pay outstanding fines at the courthouse, and find work at the employment office.

Most have little idea what to expect. They soon find out that they begin the activity with a felony record, no job and no state identification. To add to the challenge is that they need a “transportation card” to get to each station, meaning they will need a bus ticket or car ride. Which costs money.

The bottom line is that the average person who is released from prison has no resources, no support, and not much of a plan. No wonder so many end up returning to a cell.

It doesn’t have to be that way. They could have been visited in prison, like Jesus challenged, and through the relationships built there, served once they get out.

One of my dear friends in life, Chuck Colson, gave himself to this after his conversion to Christ. One of the reasons is because he spent time in prison as a result of the Watergate scandal. During his life, Chuck challenged Christians to care for those in prisons, founding the ministry Prison Fellowship.

As they say on their website: “Even the most broken lives and situations can be restored and made whole when we respond to God’s call to serve men and women behind bars.”

I think that’s what Jesus had in mind.

James Emery White

Sources

Mary Scott Hodgin, “How Hard Is Life After Prison? This Simulation in Birmingham Offers a Taste,” WBHM, June 30, 2023, read online.

Visit the Prison Fellowship website HERE.

About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.