- 1). Check the websites of prison ministries such as Bill Glass Champions for Life, Prison Fellowship, and Kairos Prison Ministry International Inc. for volunteer activities and sign-up procedures. The Institute for Prison Ministry at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College has an online library with a directory of ministries and their locations. If you do not live near a state correctional facility, consider the local jail ministry.
- 2). Contact the pastor of your church to see if it participates in a local jail ministry; if it does not, contact the chaplain of the county jail directly. In either case, you must fill out an application for the chaplain's office. Upon review, someone from that office will call to set up an interview. Assuming the interview goes well, you must undergo a background check. Even if you have been an inmate in a correctional facility, you still may qualify if you have had a clean record for a period of time.
- 3). Attend a training class required by your state before you receive your jail ministry badge. During the class, a county corrections officer will instruct you on how to work with inmates and about what items are considered contraband. Contraband items include controlled substances, cell phones or anything that might be used as a weapon. Even a ballpoint pen, a pencil or a paper clip can be dangerous in the wrong hands.
- 4). Volunteer to work with families of inmates by mentoring children of incarcerated parents or work as a camp counselor for them. Or you can join with other volunteers and hold a Christmas party for these children. Agencies that offer pre-natal care to pregnant inmates, parenting classes and counseling services need volunteers as well.
- 5). Recognize that your volunteer efforts may pay off. Aside from the personal reward of helping another person, there is a practical aspect. Recidivism rates -- or the number of repeat offenders who return to jail -- drop significantly when a ministry has intervened. Estimates vary, but Kit Van Cleave, a Bill Glass Champions for Life staff member, states, "The recidivism rate for the general inmate population may be as high as 50 percent, while the rate for inmates who receive ministry intervention may be as low as 10 percent."
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