‘Free on the inside’

DUNLAP, Tenn. — An all-volunteer ministry at the Sequatchie County Justice Center helps prisoners stay “free on the inside,” Sheriff Ronnie Hitchcock says.

That’s also the name of the ministry’s inmate newsletter mailed out to 400 homes a month, Sheriff Hitchcock said.

He said the ministry took wing after the justice center opened in 2006.

“When I became sheriff, I took an oath to uphold the laws of the land ... but also, as a Christian person, I took an oath that I would try to help people,” he said.

The ministry offers daily church services, classes for GED certificates, creative writing, computers and music, and counseling for anger management and parenting. There’s no cost to taxpayers.

“If they’re not changed when they leave, I feel like I’ve failed in what I need to do to rehabilitate these people and make a difference in their life,” Sheriff Hitchcock said.

Andy Bickford, a 32-year-old Pikeville, Tenn., native serving a sentence for vehicular homicide, said the ministry helped him patch up relations with some of his loved ones.

A string of crimes, including the slaying of his father in 1995, has kept him in jail for most of his adult life, he said.

The ministry “changed my life completely, and, in a big way, it’s reunited my family back together,” he said. His participation in the music program and newsletter keeps him focused on a spiritual mission, he said.

The program is “an excellent way to rehabilitate,” he said.

Kingsport, Tenn., native Carla Condra, 31, who’s serving 12 years for criminal simulation, said she was transferred to Sequatchie County as a state inmate with a bad attitude.

“I thought I’d entered a completely different world because I didn’t know anybody here, there were no black people here and I was ready to go,” Ms. Condra said.

She admits she was a troublemaker until “God started to deal with my heart.”

When an inmate starts making the same mistakes she did, “that’s when you want pull them to the side and say, ‘Look, I’ve been there and done that 10,000 times,’” she said. “‘Stop and listen now, because if you don’t you’ll be back three months from now and we’ll be having this same conversation all over again.’”

Mr. Bickford and Ms. Condra now help write and edit “Free on the Inside,” where they share their stories with others.

Jail Chaplain Lenard Sutherland credits concerned inmates, volunteers and growing cooperation of churches around the county for the ministry’s success.

About 20 inmates have gotten GEDs, the chapels stay full and participation in the programs keeps growing, he said.

“I’ve been in church work a lot of years, but I’ve never had the excitement that I’ve had here,” he said.

Richard Binney, released from jail on his fourth DUI conviction about 10 months ago, was among the first inmate musician-singers to join the ministry.

Mr. Binney said he goes back to jail now to carry on the mission.

“There’s such good that comes from this program. That’s why I’m still working in it,” he said.

Without it, “I’d still be the same old Richard,” he said.