CHAPLAIN LIFE

Danny Croce, Massachusetts

MY LIFE changed forever through Jesus twenty-six years ago as an inmate at Plymouth County Correctional Facility. Then I became its chaplain sixteen years ago.

In 1992, they built a new multi-use facility so that now we have county, state, and federal inmates awaiting trial and serving sentences. We’re one of the top-security facilities in the area with a maximum possible population of around 1,600. We have all kinds of people—including a lot of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) inmates, because of the crackdown on immigration—serial killers, the infamous Whitey Bulger, and of course, other New England locals.

I teach five Bible study classes, counsel people individually, listen to staff, and on Thursdays lead a special spiritual growth class for the serious guys who can’t get enough. They ask about church history, Greek, apologetics, hermeneutics, theology—stuff you’d get in a Bible college. I don’t just lead prisoners to Christ—I have them for a year or two, so I really want to equip them to become men of God. The world, the flesh, and the devil are waiting to drag them away after release.

I’m on call if there’s a death or suicide and usually meet families in the hospital. I visit inmates in hospitals who are leaving this life. I don’t get paid by the government, so I raise my own funds.

We spend a lot of time preparing for release, starting with discussing how they got into trouble. We’ve seen a few of the same guys come in and out two or three times, and for the Christians, it’s always the same reasons—stopped reading the Word, stopped going to church.

Ninety percent of the time if they don’t get plugged into a Bible-based church immediately, their days of freedom are numbered. The pattern is predictable. Usually there is an old flame; she’s using drugs; he’s done. If you grab the same old barfly, you’ll be back. They think they’ll go out like a knight in shining armor to save her out of that pit. But it’s a lot easier for her to pull him down.

Not every church with a cross on it is Christian. There are places that if they found out you’re an ex-prisoner they’d give you a look that says, “Please leave.” I ask them to tell me where they’re going to live, and I give them a few recommendations about a church.

Some officers ask, “Why do you do it, Chap? They’re going to come back.” They see inmates go to Bible study for two months and they’re “shocked” when they don’t make it. First, attending a Bible study—I don’t care who you are—is no barometer of spiritual health nor is it a magic bullet. So much more goes into a healthy Christ-centered life. Second, you can’t pass judgment on the whole because of the few. If they all came back I’d get out of this business and hang iron. It’s a way of life, not an 8 to 5 job. You love it, or you don’t.