Ever since I started working in corrections, I've heard people tell me that inmates are like babies. A lot of my fellow officers say corrections is like baby-sitting.
There is a certain condescension to these ideas that I don't like. I'm not dealing with toddlers. I'm dealing with grown adults. Of course, in many ways, they are not developed or mature as far as the loving aspects of themselves. But that's something you can say about inmates as well as the general public. A preacher who preaches in favor of war is not very developed in love either.
When I watch inmates and their behavior, I do see childish traits. When there is extra food at mealtime, they will line up with outstretched arms and try to get your attention, hoping that you will give them just a bit more food please. When you take away one small piece of contraband in a cell search, it can mean a lot to them and they may throw a major fit.
But I can't help but notice an important limiting factor in this whole business. They lack opportunities to improve themselves.
What do I mean by that? Well, you look at the life God has given to us. When you desire something and take action in the direction of your desire, amazing things happen. If you really want a certain car and you're poor, you can rise above your circumstances and attain that car. You can use your imagination, your will, your faith, your actions, your efforts, your perseverance, your dreams, and more. If you really go after something, amazing things start to unfold for you.
But in the average prison, you don't see the same thing. People can't make things. They can't build things. And they can hardly learn. In life outside the prison, you have the chance to work with the natural resources God has provided to us. You can collect rain, grow and harvest food, cut wood. We are constantly treated to glorious displays of God's profound intelligence and invited to interact with it. We can appreciate the way a woodworking blade shaves off a piece of wood. We can see how woven fabric can create a quilt.
In prison, it's the opposite. You get the allotted clothes, shelter, and food and that's it. The builder has nothing to hammer. The sheepherder has no sheep. The farmer has no land. And the chef has no grill.
We've taken all these things away from them in the interest of safety.
I'm not saying there are zero opportunities. There are voluntary work programs that let you work in the kitchen or sweep the halls.
There is a certain condescension to these ideas that I don't like. I'm not dealing with toddlers. I'm dealing with grown adults. Of course, in many ways, they are not developed or mature as far as the loving aspects of themselves. But that's something you can say about inmates as well as the general public. A preacher who preaches in favor of war is not very developed in love either.
When I watch inmates and their behavior, I do see childish traits. When there is extra food at mealtime, they will line up with outstretched arms and try to get your attention, hoping that you will give them just a bit more food please. When you take away one small piece of contraband in a cell search, it can mean a lot to them and they may throw a major fit.
But I can't help but notice an important limiting factor in this whole business. They lack opportunities to improve themselves.
What do I mean by that? Well, you look at the life God has given to us. When you desire something and take action in the direction of your desire, amazing things happen. If you really want a certain car and you're poor, you can rise above your circumstances and attain that car. You can use your imagination, your will, your faith, your actions, your efforts, your perseverance, your dreams, and more. If you really go after something, amazing things start to unfold for you.
But in the average prison, you don't see the same thing. People can't make things. They can't build things. And they can hardly learn. In life outside the prison, you have the chance to work with the natural resources God has provided to us. You can collect rain, grow and harvest food, cut wood. We are constantly treated to glorious displays of God's profound intelligence and invited to interact with it. We can appreciate the way a woodworking blade shaves off a piece of wood. We can see how woven fabric can create a quilt.
In prison, it's the opposite. You get the allotted clothes, shelter, and food and that's it. The builder has nothing to hammer. The sheepherder has no sheep. The farmer has no land. And the chef has no grill.
We've taken all these things away from them in the interest of safety.
I'm not saying there are zero opportunities. There are voluntary work programs that let you work in the kitchen or sweep the halls.
But for those who really want to apply themselves, their opportunities remain quite small.
Every prisoner has the chance to make something major of themselves. That's not me talking. That's God's perspective. God is profoundly interested in the future happiness of each one of Her children. And God knows that the more Truth Her child has, the better off they are.
But what about those who don't want to apply themselves? What about those who have less and sell even the last thing they have for a bit of drugs that will give them a twenty-minute high? What about those that find themselves with the limited choices of the prison environment and choose to darken their condition even further by assaulting or killing someone in prison? These people should be given less opportunities.
There's something I've been thinking of lately - and it comes directly from recent talks Jesus gave in Canada and the UK in 2026. "If you don't work, you don't get to eat." This is a principle we ought to be teaching our children. But it doesn't apply to just eating. It ought to apply to having access to water, shelter, and clothes.
Every prisoner has the chance to make something major of themselves. That's not me talking. That's God's perspective. God is profoundly interested in the future happiness of each one of Her children. And God knows that the more Truth Her child has, the better off they are.
But what about those who don't want to apply themselves? What about those who have less and sell even the last thing they have for a bit of drugs that will give them a twenty-minute high? What about those that find themselves with the limited choices of the prison environment and choose to darken their condition even further by assaulting or killing someone in prison? These people should be given less opportunities.
There's something I've been thinking of lately - and it comes directly from recent talks Jesus gave in Canada and the UK in 2026. "If you don't work, you don't get to eat." This is a principle we ought to be teaching our children. But it doesn't apply to just eating. It ought to apply to having access to water, shelter, and clothes.
So how is it that the average person on earth will work and have these basic essentials and if they don't work, they don't. But if you go and kill someone, you are provided all these things for free. Isn't that a little silly? Good people work and get stuff. Bad people don't work and get stuff. C'mon now!
I know what you may be thinking. I'm basically saying if you don't work, you're going to die. Well, yes. That is what I'm saying. Society provides funds to people who don't work. But all this does is make them more spoiled and entitled while insulting those who actually work for a living - not to mention the fact that there is less to go around.
If you're thinking disabled people cannot work, think again. I used to transport a man who could was only able to move his head. He worked in a call center 40 hours a week.
Anyone can work. It's just a matter of accommodating people with special needs.
But anyway, why don't I stop this train of thought for a moment and give you a picture of how things might look in a more loving prison system.
I would take two acres of land and secure it. Maybe I'd put a fence on it although the whole idea of fences sounds horrible to me. Let's just say I found a way to secure it. Anyway, I'd take about 5 people and put them on that land and give them some wood and some seeds. Then I would tell them, "You see that warehouse over yonder? You can work there. And when you work there we'll give you some stuff like food and fresh water and some other good things you can use. And if you don't work the way we want you to, you get sent home with nothing."
In my dream of a prison, not much would be spent on security or giving things to inmates. There would be chances for those who are desirous to be taught the Divine Truth but it wouldn't be forced on them. I would NOT consider medical care a right or give them free access to shelter, food, water, or clothes. They would have to figure those things out on their own.
Additionally, there would be a tier system where those who show greater love and care for themselves and others have access to more.
Do you think you would be a baby-sitter then? Do you think inmates would act like toddlers if they had to take responsibility for their lives or help their fellow sisters and brothers? I think they would get pretty loving pretty quick. Or, they could let themselves waste away and die. Or they could kill themselves. But that is as much their choice in prison as out of it.
But anyway, why don't I stop this train of thought for a moment and give you a picture of how things might look in a more loving prison system.
I would take two acres of land and secure it. Maybe I'd put a fence on it although the whole idea of fences sounds horrible to me. Let's just say I found a way to secure it. Anyway, I'd take about 5 people and put them on that land and give them some wood and some seeds. Then I would tell them, "You see that warehouse over yonder? You can work there. And when you work there we'll give you some stuff like food and fresh water and some other good things you can use. And if you don't work the way we want you to, you get sent home with nothing."
In my dream of a prison, not much would be spent on security or giving things to inmates. There would be chances for those who are desirous to be taught the Divine Truth but it wouldn't be forced on them. I would NOT consider medical care a right or give them free access to shelter, food, water, or clothes. They would have to figure those things out on their own.
Additionally, there would be a tier system where those who show greater love and care for themselves and others have access to more.
Do you think you would be a baby-sitter then? Do you think inmates would act like toddlers if they had to take responsibility for their lives or help their fellow sisters and brothers? I think they would get pretty loving pretty quick. Or, they could let themselves waste away and die. Or they could kill themselves. But that is as much their choice in prison as out of it.
By providing things free to prisoners, we are doing the opposite of rehabilitating them. We are actually teaching them to be dependent. There are so many things God teaches us through work. To take that away from someone is harmful.
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