From staff reports
The Mid-State Correctional Facility in Wrightstown is a specialized treatment center designed to rehabilitate male inmates also struggling with addictions. It is also a place where the incarcerated can have spiritual needs met with help of the Diocese’s prison ministry.
Peter Haas works to provide the men with a spiritual foundation for the road ahead. As coordinator of Jail and Prison Ministry in the diocesan Department of Pastoral Care, he conducts a Communion service every Friday with opportunities for reflection, prayer, Bible study and spiritual guidance.
Prison ministry in the Diocese of Trenton is the subject of a new video produced by the diocesan Department of Multimedia Production. It can be seen on diocesan social media.
The inmates, Haas says, “made a mistake, and here they are paying for it.” He stresses the importance of community to help these men “to get their lives back on track so they can go back to being productive members of the community.”
In the video, inmates give witness to the prison ministry program. Michael, serving 20 years for armed robbery, believes his family and God have forgiven him, yet the hardest thing has been forgiving himself. He praises the volunteers and looks forward to their visit. Thomas, 32, serving a four-year sentence for robbery, thanks God each day for a new start. He believes God put him in the facility for a reason and that without his arrest, he would probably be dead.
John, 38, has been incarcerated 10 years for robbery. He explains how after his mom recently passed away Hass urged him to turn to the prison ministry where they could pray for his mom. Since then, John says, the treatment center, the prison ministry and the volunteers have each impacted his life.