FriscoLady
11-30-2003, 06:04 AM
November 26, 2003 1:10 am
By RACHELLE STIGER
Retired prison chaplain believes in inmate education Author and retired chaplain the Rev. George Castillo believes that all incarcerated men and women, during their time in prison, should complete high school, study a marketable skill, possibly earn a college degree and learn morals, values and parenting basics. Nonviolent first-time offenders, he said, should be allowed to live within society, attending school half the day and working the other half to repair run-down homes in poor city districts.
Serving as a chaplain in federal prisons for 20 years has given Castillo a few ideas about how to equip inmates with the necessary skills to re-enter a community and function as a contributing citizen. "When we help the incarcerated," Castillo said in an interview from his Florida home. "We are not only helping the incarcerated. We are helping ourselves.
"He has written about his own experiences in a book titled "My Life Between the Cross and the Bars."
Castillo calls his ideas "meaningful rehabilitation," and he will be sharing them at a discussion and book signing from 1 to 4 p.m., on Saturday at Heaven, Coffee and More on Garrisonville Road in Stafford.
The coffee shop carries Castillo's book, and his daughter, a Stafford resident, frequently stops in for her favorite smoothie. The owners of the coffee shop, Apostle Ralph White and Prophetess Sheryl Hill, have invited local churches to the event in the hopes that Castillo will be able to encourage those already involved in prison ministries and offer suggestions for those wanting to start prison ministries.
Hill said she believes ministering to inmates is right in line with the church's mission--"winning souls for Christ."
"The church needs to come out of the building to be rebuilding [incarcerated individuals'] lives while they're there, not when they come out," she said. "It's a captive audience."
Through their Christian ministry called White House of Prayer, Hill and her husband, Clinton, serve as mentors and Bible teachers in the Prince William County juvenile detention system.
"We have far too many youth, as well as adults, incarcerated," Hill said.
Castillo agrees. "Punishment alone is not working. What we have been doing as a nation is not working," he said. "If it were working, we wouldn't have 2.2 million people incarcerated in the U.S."
By speaking to groups across the nation, Castillo said he hopes to "plant the seeds of change" in the way convicted felons are processed. He said churches have already implemented parts of his prison reform plan in
programs aimed at helping inmates spiritually and realistically get back on their feet.
Castillo has a master's degree in pastoral psychology and counseling and a master of divinity. He's also contributed to "Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul" and "Serving Time, Serving Others."
Castillo pastored a church in Detroit and Shaker Heights, Ohio, before becoming the second African-American chaplain in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He served in prisons in Georgia, Kentucky and Florida and retired in 1993.
By RACHELLE STIGER
Retired prison chaplain believes in inmate education Author and retired chaplain the Rev. George Castillo believes that all incarcerated men and women, during their time in prison, should complete high school, study a marketable skill, possibly earn a college degree and learn morals, values and parenting basics. Nonviolent first-time offenders, he said, should be allowed to live within society, attending school half the day and working the other half to repair run-down homes in poor city districts.
Serving as a chaplain in federal prisons for 20 years has given Castillo a few ideas about how to equip inmates with the necessary skills to re-enter a community and function as a contributing citizen. "When we help the incarcerated," Castillo said in an interview from his Florida home. "We are not only helping the incarcerated. We are helping ourselves.
"He has written about his own experiences in a book titled "My Life Between the Cross and the Bars."
Castillo calls his ideas "meaningful rehabilitation," and he will be sharing them at a discussion and book signing from 1 to 4 p.m., on Saturday at Heaven, Coffee and More on Garrisonville Road in Stafford.
The coffee shop carries Castillo's book, and his daughter, a Stafford resident, frequently stops in for her favorite smoothie. The owners of the coffee shop, Apostle Ralph White and Prophetess Sheryl Hill, have invited local churches to the event in the hopes that Castillo will be able to encourage those already involved in prison ministries and offer suggestions for those wanting to start prison ministries.
Hill said she believes ministering to inmates is right in line with the church's mission--"winning souls for Christ."
"The church needs to come out of the building to be rebuilding [incarcerated individuals'] lives while they're there, not when they come out," she said. "It's a captive audience."
Through their Christian ministry called White House of Prayer, Hill and her husband, Clinton, serve as mentors and Bible teachers in the Prince William County juvenile detention system.
"We have far too many youth, as well as adults, incarcerated," Hill said.
Castillo agrees. "Punishment alone is not working. What we have been doing as a nation is not working," he said. "If it were working, we wouldn't have 2.2 million people incarcerated in the U.S."
By speaking to groups across the nation, Castillo said he hopes to "plant the seeds of change" in the way convicted felons are processed. He said churches have already implemented parts of his prison reform plan in
programs aimed at helping inmates spiritually and realistically get back on their feet.
Castillo has a master's degree in pastoral psychology and counseling and a master of divinity. He's also contributed to "Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul" and "Serving Time, Serving Others."
Castillo pastored a church in Detroit and Shaker Heights, Ohio, before becoming the second African-American chaplain in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He served in prisons in Georgia, Kentucky and Florida and retired in 1993.