Wednesday, March 26, 1997
Local prison ministry officials delighted with
Bush emphasis
By BILL WHITAKER
Staff Writer
While George Bush was in town touting tax relief, local prison
ministry officials were making merry over the governor's push
for more "faith-based community programs" to aid prisoners'
return to society.
Jerry Groom, the state's head prison chaplain, told civic leaders,
volunteer prison ministers and others that Bush is inviting state
partnerships with grassroots, faith-based programs to battle Texas'
rising prison population.
That means everything from state-blessed prison ministry projects
developed by churches and communities to possible state funding
to help set up Christian halfway houses.
"The welcome mat has been laid out by the governor and
the criminal justice board," Groom, 54, said during a visit
Tuesday to Abilene Christian University. "They're saying,
'We want to be in partnership with you on these things.'<t>"
While he admitted hurdles remain to full implementation of
many such programs - including those who insist on keeping church
and state matters separate, especially in areas of funding - Groom
said it's hard to deny the success of very similar programs in
Brazil.
Such Brazilian programs, he said, result in only 5 percent
of former prisoners returning to a life behind bars.
In Texas, the recidivism rate is more like 50 percent.
While the slant on programs cited Tuesday was decidedly Christian,
Texas Department of Criminal Justice chaplaincy regional coordinator
Jim Young said various faith-based prison programs should be open
to all, regardless of one's brand of religious faith.
Even Muslim ministers are voicing support for such programs,
he said.
Politicians routinely campaign - and all too effectively -
on simply locking up prisoners and throwing away the proverbial
key, Groom said. However, this attitude is also "wrecking
the state.
"Are we going to give (society) back a better product
or a worse product?" he said, referring to prisoners later
released into the public.
"There's a lot of potential for good in all this,"
T.J. Medart, senior warden at the Price Daniel Unit in Snyder,
said afterward. "But a lot of it depends on the volunteer
base. Are there enough volunteers who will actually stick with
it for the long haul?
"Will there be enough church participation to make it
work?"
Many obviously thought there was, especially in the Abilene
area.
"There's an attitude here that's different," said
41-year-old Glenn Byers, a full-time volunteer chaplain at the
Robertson Unit. "Mayor (Gary) McCaleb refers to it as a spirit
of volunteerism. I hadn't thought of it in those terms. I just
know we lived in Huntsville before and here it's the best we've
ever seen."
Area prison ministry officials were enthused, including 53-year-old
Brett Miller, who coordinates a prison ministry locally. He said
Abilene's religious aura, including the emphasis offered by its
three universities, makes it ideal for tackling problems faced
by prisoners.
"Things are really opening up," ACU director of alumni
Bob Gomez said later of encouragement by the state of Texas in
such matters. "We ought to be shot if we don't take advantage
of this."
Considering the prison recidivism rate in Texas, Gomez conceded
there was a fair chance of just that.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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