PRISON FELLOWSHIP: North Carolina

Prison can be a dark place, full of corrosive influences. Prisoners who want to follow Christ must fight against a tide that threatens to push them back into old behaviors and thought patterns. Other men and women might be curious about Jesus, but, cynical about the value of “religion,” they balk at the idea of attending a chapel service.

The parking lot of the Durham (NC) County Jail is not a place most people would see as a location for religious revival, but on June 25, this unlikely setting served as the site for the baptism of 39 of the jail’s prisoners.

The North Carolina prison system announced that they will put an end to solitary confinement for juvenile offenders in the prison system. Historically, youth were placed in solitary confinement if they seriously violated prison rules.

By this September, the N.C. Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice will launch a Youthful Offender Program that will provide education, mental and behavioral health counseling, life skills classes, and family and community reunification services.

Shirley Beatty is Prison Fellowship’s field director for North Carolina and Southern Virginia. In the following article, she recounts a recent visit to the Mountain View Correctional Institution in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, as part of the “One Day with God” program.

By the time Sgt. Joseph Serna left his position in the Special Forces, he had completed four combat tours in over two decades in Afghanistan. He had nearly been killed on three separate occasions, and received three Purple Heart awards, along with several other commendations for bravery and valor.