The Matthew 25 Center

Every week, Spiritosanto is forced to turn away some of the inmates from religious services simply because there is no room. In fact, there are currently 35 - 40 religious programs held every week for the inmates, and many of the services have to be held in various locations throughout the prison ‑ often in areas which are not conducive to worship or Bible study.

“The present chapel that we have is a 20 x 24‑foot area, and in that area we have to store things," Spiritosanto explained. "It also includes the chapel religious library and other things that take up space in there ‑‑ storage cabinets and so forth ‑ and there just simply isn't enough room for us to conduct worship services and other activities unless there are small groups."

The visitation area, which has a capacity of 25 people, is one of the locations currently being used for Sunday services. But Spiritosanto now has plans under way to raise funds to construct a larger chapel for the more than 756 inmates housed at the facility.

"We're seeking to build a chapel which would include a sanctuary space that would seat approximately 200 inmates and would have two larger rooms that we could use for classrooms ‑ and one would also double as a library," he explains. "Then we'd have office space and bathroom facilities, which we do not have ‑ we have to go to a different building to use the restroom."

The new chapel ‑ formally called the Religious Services Center - would be adjacent to the gymnasium, Spiritosanto said.

The exterior of' the building would be brick, to match the prison’s other buildings. It would have a sloped roof, and a mosaic stained‑glass window on its east side would follow the shape of the cathedral ceiling and would be the focal point of the facility.

Although the state has agreed that the prison can utilize that particular space for a chapel, however the state won't be funding any part of it.

We're looking for, of course, private funding, because the state, because of budget constraints, has not been able to fund chapel projects for quite some time now," said Spiritosanto.

Enter the Prison’s Community Resource Council (CRC), a group of dedicated volunteers from the community that meets monthly and is currently on a mission to raise the needed funds.

The nonprofit council acts as a liaison between the surrounding community and the prison and assists the prison in conducting special projects. In this case, the CRC has organized what's called The Pender Development Fund to raise funds for the new chapel.

The proposed budget for building the new chapel is $525,000, which includes equipment.

But before the prison can even break ground for the facility, the state requires that it has about 70 percent of the funding in hand.

"So we need to get that accomplished," Spiritosanto pointed out, "The purpose of that is to make sure that we are going to be able to follow through with the completion of the project."

Spiritosanto said that religion is one of the things that inmates can become involved with that is very positive, and it helps their rehabilitative process.

"Of course," he said, "our goal is for the inmate not to get back into the system. The vast majority or about 90 percent, are going to be paroled at some point, so we want them, as they go back out into society, to become productive citizens and not come back into the system again. Religion is one of the best ways in which to help them stay out of the kind of thing that they were involved with before which got them incarcerated to begin with."

"You can educate a prisoner and what you will get is an educated criminal," says Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship. "You have to change his heart."

Spiritosanto said that it's important for the inmates to have that kind of exposure so they'll have an opportunity to participate in the services. But, he added, participation would be each inmate's personal choice.

And the state would benefit from it as well ‑ every inmate that does not come back into the system would save the state about $26 - 27,000 a year.

Anyone interested in assisting with this project ‑ either financially or as a volunteer – should contact Chaplain Jimmy Joseph at 259‑8735.

Additional information is available at www.penderchapel.org.

CRC member Regina Fennell said, "This is a worthy cause, because the proposed chapel will make a tremendous difference in the lives of many inmates who will one day become productive citizens.”