Inmate #972181

I have been communicating with an inmate at the Putnamville Correctional facility. He wrote me after seeing the Unite Indy insert on “Race Relationships” in the Indianapolis Business Journal, asking if we would connect him with a pastor for spiritual guidance. So, I wrote him back, and he wrote again and it has become a meaningful conversation.

I don’t know what he did to receive a 20-year sentence, but I know in a year or so, he will be released and he decided to start reading a business publication so that he’d be ready to join the workforce when he was able.

He told me he had been made a ward of the court by age 10, which indicates that there was probably not a lot of loving parenting going on to guard his young development. Out on his own, hopeless and helpless, he got into trouble. Serious trouble.

But since his incarceration he ran into someone who made a huge impact on him and truly changed his life. Somewhere along the way Jesus met him where he was, wanting a better life, yearning to be a man of excellence, and he was changed.

In his last letter to me he said, “I am comforted and strengthened by His Word and the inner workings of the Holy Spirit. I will continue to grow into the man of God He gifted me, by His grace and mercy to be.”

I don’t think you get 20 years for stealing a loaf of bread. I’m pretty sure it had to be a serious offense, yet this is a man reformed. And I worry that at the end of his search for employment and a better life he will find only the disappointment that causes so many ex-offenders to make their way back to a place they know they can get three meals a day. I don’t want that to happen to him.

Incarceration is penance and at some point we need to be prepared to give these people a chance to rejoin society and earn their own economic freedom. To that end, Unite Indy will be addressing the urgent need for employment in an upcoming forum.

We will look at the possibilities available to bring new life to the ex-offender who wants to work for it. Three Indianapolis employers that hire ex-offenders have been made aware of this person, Merchandise Warehouse, Recycle Force and Purposeful Design. And all these companies are committed to enabling personal growth and change for those who have served time in our penal system. They are part of the answer. But the questions still remain.

Meanwhile, he and I will continue to write. I’ll let you know how it goes.

God bless,
Nancy