Dec. 15, 2008 issue
Mission in prison
By David P. King Wichita, Kan.I commend Gabe Schlabach for his article on offenders coming out of prisons. I am a job specialist with the Kansas Department of Corrections working with a re-entry program in Sedgwick County, Kan. I drive 40 miles at least three times a week to El Dorado Correctional Facility. I prepare inmates for release to the community through facilitating job classes, teaching a new way of thinking, money management and a class on release and reintegration. Some inmates have been locked up for up to 25 years.
Once a week I go to the segregation cell house, where inmates are locked in a cell for up to 23 hours a day, and teach employment skills.
Kansas is one of a few states working with this type of re-entry program, and it has shown to be successful. We assist offenders to think through their choices and consequences. We empower, equip and encourage them in their positive choices. Once an offender is working and using us for support, he can be successful. We know the community at large, especially employers, is unsure about an offender. I have the offender write an “incarceration speech” to sell himself to the employer.
I look at this job as working in a mission field ripe for harvest. I pray each day that God will use me for his purpose through my words and actions. After all, the only difference between me and those inside the walls is the difference between the choices that were made, and an understanding of the consequences.
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