Prison Ministry

“Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

“ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me...I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:36, 40)

My involvement in the prison ministry is one of the most enriching and fulfilling tasks undertaken after my cancer treatments. When my condition becomes more stable after June last year, I was praying for meaningful things to do from home. Last August I came to know a prison ministry (through the church news bulletin) was looking for instructors for its bible courses for the Changi prison male drug inmates. It took me awhile to make decision as I was concerned how long I could stay on this assignment due to the nature of my health condition. But I told myself I will never start anything meaningful if I let my illness become the focus point of my life. Now as I looked back the past 10 months, God has been gracious and I had gone through 31 lessons from various students (sometimes from the same students).

The prison ministry which is based in US has been in existence for 20 years. The Singapore branch was set up about two years ago. The curriculum is very systematic and extensive, consists of several modules for different levels which a typical student can take some years to complete all of them. The lesson will mail to me toward the end of the week and I have to return it by the following week. The score of the lesson is then input into the HQ website and is not made known to the student, so is the identity of the instructor. I am given an instructor’s manual with answers, so correcting the lessons is not a problem. The more challenging part is to write encouraging letters to the students. I spent considerable time on them because I know letters are rarely received by these inmates.

The Misuse of Drugs Act is a drug control law providing for long terms of imprisonment, caning, and capital punishment. In addition, there is a special scheme for non-trafficking drug addicts called the long-term imprisonment regime. This originally covered users of drugs such as morphine and heroin, but has since been extended to include synthetic drugs like Ketamine, Ecstasy and Subutex. Under the scheme, the addicts were jailed for up to seven years and given six strokes of the cane. For those who were caught taking drugs again, they were then jailed for up to a further 13 years, with up to 12 further strokes of the cane.

This prison ministry not only provides bible courses for the drug inmates, but also works with various half-way houses such as Breakthrough Mission, Teens Challenge and Christian Care Services so that these students can continue their lessons and also acquire critical life skills to fit into the society again. The reason why the ministry concentrates only on drug offenders is that studies have shown that this category of prisoners has the best chance of reforming. Most of these offenders committed the crimes out of impulses or momentary passion, not so because of flaws in their characters. As an instructor, I am like a conduit for them to the outside world, so it is important that I empathize with the pain and sorrow they went through and encouraging them. In fact, in the beginning, I was afraid that I would be affected by the bitterness and depression that the students might express through their lessons. Instead, I find myself increasingly been inspired by their fortitude and life transformation they experienced after their conversion. One young student wrote that he used to find very hard to respect and obey authority but now he is able to obey his leaders at the half-way house. Another student shared that he is full regret after his mother died from cancer at a hospice while he was in jail, and he is determined to start afresh, mend his broken relationship with his father.

Experts believe addictions are 90% a matter of the mind. When you experience a pleasurable event, your brain records the experience, and if you do it often enough, it will eventually develop that drive that makes you want to repeat that ‘event’, For example, if you have a couple of smokes after every meal, your mind will replay these sights, sounds and feelings of these ‘rituals’, will convince you that they are needed for you to have that kind of “feel good” experience. However, our mind is also capable of reshaping for the better. That is why most successful rehabilitation programs last at least for 30days. When our minds are removed from our normal routines, we are forced to adjust to a totally new environment that is far way from the old and familiar sights and sounds. The brain begins to create new pathway and old activity begins to fade away. So by the 2-year mark, it is found that a person has 60% chance of success, and at the 3 –year mark, it becomes 90%. This bible courses therefore not only nurture the drug inmates’ personal relationship with God but also renew their minds with things of God (divine thoughts), thus creating new pathway and focus in their lives.

Recently the ministry has also started the work of translating the lessons into Chinese so that the program can reach out to many Chinese-educated drug offenders. We are also looking for more female co-workers so that the ministry can expand its works among the female drug offenders. It is wonderful for me to be part of this exciting outreach work.