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Art By
Inmates
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Some inmates serving life sentences are becoming illustrators for a series of books that feature their artwork. The chaplain who helped initiate the effort believes the books provide an outlet for prisoners—and a means of understanding for those on the outside. Heidi Robinson reports. |
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SCRIPT:
(Locator: Brighton, Colorado)Voice of male inmate: “I’m only 24 years old and I’ve already been to prison.”
Voice of female inmate: “I was digging my own grave.”
United Methodist chaplain Yong Hui McDonald has an unusual, and unpopular, congregation.
The Rev. Yong Hui McDonald, United Methodist Chaplain: “People might think, ‘Wow! Criminals? Convicts?’ No. Jesus is right there and catching these people when they fall.”
Yet McDonald sees promise behind these prison walls.
With prayer, pencil and paper, the “Transformation Project” in Brighton, Colorado is changing lives.
Corey D. Wagner, Inmate: “I was in prison by the age of 16.”
28-year-old Corey Wagner will likely spend the rest of his life in the state prison system.
Corey D. Wagner, Inmate: “To be able to take Scripture and know that I can help people now as opposed to harm people, which I’m so good at. I’ve seen grown men cry, come to me. 40, 50-year-old men, ‘Cory, come pray with me, please bro.’ I’m honored. I see lives changed every day. It’s a beautiful, beautiful feeling.”
(Corey draws) “Let me just transfer this little lady right here. Just real quick rough draft.”
Corey’s drawings will go into the third volume of the Maximum Saints books – all penned by inmates. These are stories of grace and forgiveness. And there is now a community that has spread beyond the walls of the prison.
The Rev. Kay Palmer Marsch, Westminster United Methodist Church: “Most of us would be afraid to go to the prison and do things, but little by little I’m seeing people are becoming less and less frightened.”
Volunteers from a nearby church come into the prison to mentor inmates like Ana Maria
Martinez.
Volunteer comforts inmate: “You can’t do it alone. You can’t do it alone, Yolanda. I know.”
Yolanda Garcia, Volunteer: “Well, who will go? Who’s going to do this? It can’t just be one person on the inside, you know, because the problem isn’t just here. It’s on the outside.”
For some, there seems to be a new definition of freedom.
Laura Nokes Lang, Volunteer: “What’s been transforming for me is these inmates have found a way out through God.”
The Rev.Yong Hui McDonald, United Methodist Chaplain: “We need to care for each other, have to really act out our love. Not with just words, but with actions.”
(Voices of inmates) “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…”
TAG:
The Transformation Project prison ministry is seeking 100 organizations or individuals willing to donate 10 dollars a month to sustain the book ministry. Chaplain McDonald is confident that there are many more Maximum Saints books to be written.
For more information on the Transformation Project contact Chaplain McDonald at 303-655-3311.
Also, see: Chaplain works with prisoners on ‘maximum’ ministry