In their new positions as field ministers, the men will not be expected to preach or convert other inmates to Christianity. The prison system cannot promote one faith over others, said Jailall. But they will be expected to counsel and mentor inmates and to encourage them to seek out opportunities to better themselves. Some will also be co-teaching a class called “Thinking for a Change,” a cognitive–behavioral curriculum developed by the National Institute of Corrections. The efforts are intended create a calmer prison environment and reduce violence.
For their efforts, the inmates will earn $1 a day.
Kirston Marshall Angell, a 32-year-old inmate who graduated summa cum laude, said he was “ecstatic” and happy to head to a maximum security prison in the western part of the state where he is expected to work with new inmates, ages 18-25, adjusting to life in prison for the first time.
“I’ve grown out of myself,’ said Angell, who is serving a 40-year sentence for second-degree murder. “I’ve learned to set myself aside and favor others. That’s what this program has called us to.”
Angell’s education, as well as that of his classmates, was paid for by a grant from Game Plan for Life, a Christian ministry founded by former NFL football coach and current auto racing team owner Joe Gibbs, who partnered with the College at Southeastern to launch the degree program.
Graduating inmates visit with guests during the College at Southeastern graduation ceremony, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, at Nash Correctional Institution in Nashville, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina
It costs Southeastern $500,000 a year to run the prison program. The college has also secured supplemental funding from the Sunshine Lady Foundation and the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, said Seth Bible, director of the prison program and an assistant professor of ethics and the history of ideas at Southeastern.
The support of these and other funders is critical to the program, he said.
“I ask on the first day: ‘How many of you never thought you’d have the opportunity to get a four-year college degree?’” said Bible. “Without fail, for four straight years, 90% of the people in class will raise their hand. They say they didn’t have strong parental influence or were influenced by drugs or gangs and never had anyone believe in them, or they’ve never believed in themselves.”
The opportunity, he said, can give inmates a new perspective. “The moment you begin to tell someone that they have value, first in the eyes of God and in your eyes as well. And, then you tell them, not only do I think you have value, but the people who support this program think you have value — that, in itself, is transformative.”
Prison education is expected to receive a big boost in June 2023 when inmates at many federal and state prisons will qualify for Pell grants for college education. In 2020, Congress lifted a ban on federal financial aid to prisoners that had been in place since 1994.
Ten North Carolina schools have recently formed a Prison Education Collaborative to begin thinking about ways to increase the number and variety of degree programs in the prisons. Campbell University plans to graduate two dozen inmates with a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in communication studies with a minor in addiction disorders in 2023.
But for now, the evangelical programs are the most prevalent, especially across the Southern U.S., where evangelicals are dominant. Southeastern recently started a similar program at a women’s prison in Raleigh.
