CHRISTIAN JAIL MINISTRY

Compiled by Dale Pace (Sept. 2000) using Howard County Detention Center (HCDC) annual reports and from the 1996 national profile of jail inmates. Only points noted as specific to HCDC are directly applicable to HCDC; other points are generalizations. A Word 6 version of this page may be downloaded by clicking here: Jail Inmates (12 Kbytes).

Age: three roughly equal-sized groups: under 25, 25-35, and over 35.

Education: half – some high school or less, half – high school graduate (15% some college); 10-20% are functionally illiterate.

Marital Status: less than one in five currently married; half never married.

Income: more than half had poverty-level income the month before current arrest; about half are from families receiving some form of public assistance.

Offense for which confined: four roughly equal-sized groups:

Violent offenses (homicide, sexual assault, robbery, assault, etc.) – men more likely than women

Property offenses (burglary, larceny/theft, car theft, fraud, etc.)

Drug offenses (possession, trafficking, etc.)

Public-order offenses (weapon possession, DWI/DUI, traffic violation, drunkenness, etc.)

Prior Drug Use: four-fifths have used drugs sometime, and three-fifths use drugs regularly

Under the influence at time of crime: of alcohol – two-fifths, of drugs – one third ; three-fifths consume alcohol regularly.

Had substance abuse treatment: two-fifths.

Past Criminality: three roughly equal-sized groups: No previous sentence, violent recidivists, and nonviolent recidivists; two-fifths have served 3 or more sentences ; half come from families in which other members have been incarcerated.

Detention Status: two-fifths unconvicted, half sentenced, one tenth convicted awaiting sentence.

Length of Sentence:

¼ – less than three months, ½ – three months to a year, ¼ – more than a year
nationally only one in ten are sentenced to prisons (even lower in Howard County)

Danger in jail:

One in twenty will be hurt in a fight or assault while incarcerated
One in twenty will be injured accidentally while incarcerated

Personal and Family Background:

Reared in home with: two parents (two-fifths), one-parent (half), no parents (one in ten)

Half of female inmates report physical or sexual abuse

One-third of inmates report a physical or mental disability

¼ of inmates had received treatment for a mental or emotional problem

half do something religious in jail (attend religious services, pray, meditate, etc.)

at HCDC: half from Howard County, one-third from Baltimore, rest from elsewhere

at HCDC: about half are white and half are black

at HCDC: response to CJM programs is roughly proportional to ethnic representation

Observations:

Power of Christ to save has shown truth of II Corinthians 5:17 in that all kinds of inmates and former inmates have been saved and transformed.

Effective ministry that disciples as well as evangelizes must come to grips with addictions, and provide the kind of resource-intensive help that seems to work – or there will be little lasting transformations of lives (Christians and churches must be willing to pay the price for meaningful ministry).

People from middle-class circumstances should expect culture shock in this ministry.