Here's a paragraph that really describes the problems we have today in our prison system.

The great majority of the criminals in the penitentiary are young men. One dose of prison life is all they desire. Did they but have the least opportunity of living useful lives, and becoming respectable citizens when out of prison, they would improve it, instead of committing crime and being returned to hard labor without compensation. I am now pleading for hundreds of young men who are in prison for the first time, and have all the punishment along this line they desire, who would like to reform and become useful citizens. But how can they accomplish this? Unaided they will come out of the prison, drift about awhile, and then the current of sin and crime will bear them back again to a felon's cell. In an unguarded hour they succumbed to the tempter's power, and fell. The dark mantle of disgrace has enveloped them. And if there were some kind friend to lend a helping hand, how quickly would they tear it off and put on the robe of useful citizenship. Will not our great State adopt some plan to afford aid to these men who would like to be extricated from this dangerous quagmire into which they have fallen?

The surprising part is this was written 112 years ago! It's The Twin Hells, by John R. Reynolds written in 1890.

When will politicians learn their lessons? Does the public really know what the issues are? Can we quit swallowing the drivel of politicians and attempt to build real solutions to long-standing problems? What if people had listened 100 years ago while the system was much smaller? Could we have swung the tide back then?

What do you think?

I have been asked by many people how to find someone to mentor - here's some suggestions:

How to Find Someone to Mentor

This questions arises every time I do training, so here’s some ideas. First I suggest that you seek guidance from the Holy Spirit as to the best plan for you. Any method may work, but the goal is to find someone who will listen and respond to you.

1. Join a group that goes to prison on a weekly basis. This way you have two advantages: you can get to know a little of the prison culture, if you don’t have this knowledge. Then you can have some time to meet some potential mentees and put out some feelers to see who might be a candidate for mentoring. As you narrow down the possibilities, look for someone who will be living in your area. If you find a couple of choices, try to talk to the chaplain or other leaders to see if these people are sincere in changing.

2. Check to see if your state has an official mentoring program and join it. Texas, for example has recently instituted such a program.

3. Ask various prison ministries in the area if they know of potential candidates. It could be large ministries like Prison Fellowship or Champions for Life or any smaller ministries.

4. The local chaplains might know of some good folks that would love a mentor. Chaplains can vary, so don’t give up because the first one you call may not have a name.

5. There may be several inside mentoring programs already existing that can get you plugged in.

6. If you are willing to mentor after they are already out, you might try contacting the local parole office.

7. Contact some of the local aftercare centers to see if they need help mentoring. Virtually all of them are short on mentors.

8. Some states have therapeutic communities or Christian prisons/pods. In many cases they need mentors.

9. Some churches have started mentoring programs and would welcome your help.

10. Sometimes requests come in from parents or other concerned parties saying that a person is finally sincere about turning their life around. Most ministries get such requests.


Don’t worry — after a little while you will have plenty to do. Once the word is out about you wanting to mentor, you will have people/ministries coming to you.

Remember — start slow and don’t try to mentor more than one newly released mentee at a time.

This new site will concentrate on issues relating to criminal justice ministry.

Recently, we had an incident in Texas where a person mentoring someone had to shoot the person they were reaching out to. This was done in self defense, but the ramifications were severe.

More information will be provided on this incident.

MentorCare Ministries will teach an 8 hour mentoring class the last weekend of Sept. It starts Friday night in Richardson, Texas at 6:30 and takes up again on Sat. at 9:00 AM. If interested, call 888-256-2673 to get more info.

If you want to submit info to this site write to johnleonardson@yahoo.com. Thanks!