July 6, 2009 issue
Prison ministry inspires volunteer chaplains
By Mike StrehlowATMORE, Ala. — Fountain Correctional Facility is called “The Bottom” by prison inmates statewide.
Hans Stutzman, an intern with We Care prison ministry, talks with an inmate, whose name is withheld for security reasons, at Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala. — Photo provided by We Care
A group of volunteer chaplains entered the prison of more than 1,200 felons for the first time last October.
“Scared,” is how Hans Stutzman recalls feeling that day.
“Intimidating,” was how Kendall Nissley saw the prison, with its guard towers and razor wire.
Like a “deer in the headlights,” is how Justin Beitzel described his expression.
“What did I get myself into?” Phil Rogers said he thought.
What they had all gotten themselves into was a seven-month internship with We Care Program, a prison ministry headquartered here that primarily places full-time volunteer chaplains in Alabama, Florida and Ohio.
After being frisked by the guards and passed through Fountain’s security gates, the interns were suddenly in a place where everybody wears white, privacy is non-existent, and nobody can do anything unless the rules say so. That was the interns’ first day of learning to relate to the citizens of a “foreign country” that is, essentially, a cage.
Outside comfort zones
We Care was founded nearly 40 years ago by Martin Weber, who died April 18 at age 84.
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