The Prison Minister's Handbook: Volunteer Ministry to the Forgotten Christian

The Prison Minister's Handbook 2000-04-17

Reviewer: Richard R. Blake

John L. Cowart, author, subtitles his book, "Volunteer Ministry to the Forgotten Christian". This is truly a handbook on prison ministry. Each chapter is an invaluable primer and provides the both the prison chaplain and the lay minister with the basics of ministering to the incarcerated. In the introductory chapters he covers the prison inmate, the crisis in our Criminal Justice System, a history of the Penal System, and a good definitive explanation of the modern prision setting. He compares and delineates the county and city jails, the federal and state prisons, juvenile correctins, women's prisons, military prisons, and special lockups. He takes the reader inside the criminal mind, introduces him to the prison personnel who influence your work in the prison seting. The author then invites you, the reader, to discern what gifts you have to offer this ministry, and how to prepare for your first visit. He has done an outstanding job and I highly reccommend this book to everyone ministering in our prisons and jails today.