Prison is full of surprises!

Gerard Chrispin of Daylight Christian Prison Trust and DayOne Prison Ministries tells of three recent prison surprises . . .

I was so embarrassed to greet the man as a prisoner only to find out he was the chaplain! (I am not telling anyone who that was!) I was dumfounded when the officer at Wakefield Prison thought I was a prisoner because I was wearing a blue and white striped shirt! And I cannot imagine how a particular inmate managed to write to me at my home address a few days after the meeting I had spoken at, when I only gave out the address of our organisation! These are just a few of the many surprises in prison that I instantly recall.

But in one week a lot can happen. Phillippa and I have had three surprises in the last seven days. They each can teach us something, whether our work is behind bars or ‘on the out’, as the inmates call it.

Hindu chaplain

We use widely DayOne’s evangelistic booklets, How can God accept me? and How can I find God? and will now add to that How can I become a real Christian? Daylight Christian Prison Trust donates them to many prisons. We are encouraged because they are displayed and given out by some chaplains who do not share our evangelical position, as well as by those who do. But we were surprised at one big London prison one Sunday a few weeks ago.

Why? Let me first explain that the prison chaplaincy has become a multi-faith organisation to cater for its very varied constituency. There are not only Anglican, Roman Catholic and Free Church chaplains, but a whole wider representation including those of most world religions. There are even official pagan chaplains!

‘Gerard, I am sure you would like to know that one of our chaplains teaches his people from How can I find God?’, volunteered a lady on the chaplaincy team. I said I was very pleased that it was useful and asked who the chaplain was. A name which I found hard to pronounce and impossible to spell was given to me. Then came the surprise: ‘He is the Hindu chaplain!’ His philosophy was that he wanted Hindus to find God and here was a way to do it! I wonder what they will make of the statement, referring to John 14.1-6, that Jesus ‘alone guarantees a home in heaven after death, to all who will repent and come to him in prayer’. Please pray that Hindus in prison will read it and come to put their trust in the only Saviour.

‘I would have nicked it, but...’

Scene 1: Phillippa and I had been to HMP High Down to take a service there with one of our Prison Ministry Visitors. We were short of time and had quickly grabbed the large flatpack visual display board from the boot of my car, along with our inevitable bag of booklets for the inmates, and rushed to the chapel via prison security and a number of locked gates and doors. God blessed the service and we lingered to chat with the inmates and with some local Christians who came in regularly to meet the prisoners. In a far more relaxed state than when we arrived, we sauntered back to the car. Parked just behind ours was a fairly flashy souped-up car with two Afro Caribbean young men in the front and (I assume) their girl friends in the back.

I felt in my pocket for the keys — and a cold panic set in. Not only were they not in my pocket, and presumably lost, but they were very probably lost in prison. The possible repercussions of that were enormous. How could I get back in to look for them? In any case, where could I go to look for them? What if an inmate had got them — would there be a search instigated (because inmates are not allowed to have any unauthorised keys). If so, what would that do for the reputation of Daylight and DayOne, as well as for me personally? Just as I was about to insult myself again, a West Indian voice laconically asked: ‘Are you lookin’ for these, man?’ He dangled my bunch of keys from his open window and revealed a broad smile with very white teeth. He continued (joking — I think!): ‘I would have nicked your car, but I am up before the magistrates next week anyhow, so I thought I had better not!’ He had waited with his friends for over an hour for us to return to the car. He thought my car would be stolen if he had left the keys hanging from the boot lock, where I had left them in my earlier haste and where he noticed them. He knew that if he handed them into prison reception, security considerations could seriously delay my getting them back.

I thanked him enthusiastically and asked him if he read much. He said he did. I gave his friends and him some booklets and a book on the resurrection. We prayed for that man and asked that God would save and bless him.

Scene 2: We always greet the prisoners personally as they enter the chapel. (My handshake has strengthened greatly since I started this work!) At the same London prison where the Hindu chaplain uses our booklet, I had said ‘Hello’ to 70 or so men and turned to make my way to the front, when a West Indian voice said: ‘I remember you. Do you remember me?’ I turned to the smiling young man and look puzzled. ‘The keys at High Down!’ he added. The penny dropped and Phillippa and I greeted him warmly and found out he had been arrested since, and was facing trial and possibly a very long prison sentence. He sat attentively through the service, including the gospel presentation, and agreed to keep in touch afterwards. He told me he had read the booklets and read the book twice. Can this be just a coincidence? We were surprised to see him. We pray that he will be surprised by grace.

The ‘young Frank Bruno’

We were thrilled to meet at another London prison a man who looks like a young and more handsome version of Frank Bruno. To cut a long story short, he was converted to Christ. He moved to another prison where we go often, and we have arranged pastoral visits to him. His life is so changed that his friends in prison thought he had become stand-offish. He will not now join in some of the shameful things with them in which he used to revel. To counterbalance the inevitable isolation that his conversion caused, he started taking ten inmates to the gym in their free time to act as their keep fit trainer! He reckoned this made his witness to them more natural.

Our third recent surprise was when we read his letter this week revealing that he has just been diagnosed as having a blocked artery and angina. He awaits an operation in a hospital we know well. He must be only in his early 30s, and has a physique very much like Bruno and is a keep fit ‘fanatic’.

He wrote that he had peace in all this and knows he is in God’s hands but wonders how this will affect him in the future. Please pray for this dear man — whom Phillippa and I have come to love. This unwelcome surprise reminds me that the work of the gospel is urgent indeed. Hell is filling up. Men and women need Christ, whether criminals or not, and who knows if those we meet will get another chance to hear that Christ can save them? We want to be reminded of this as we take the message of the crucified and risen Saviour to the prisons.

For more details of Daylight/DayOne prison ministry contact Gerard Chrispin at Daylight CPT, PO Box 82, Leominster HR6 6AD, email Prison@DaylightCPT.org, or see http://www.DaylightCPT.org

Prison is full of surprises!

Hindu chaplain

‘I would have nicked it, but...’

The ‘young Frank Bruno’

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