My initial encounter with Christian Science was merely to get some time out of my prison cell. I was serving a life-sentence for second-degree homicide for a crime I had not committed, although I had engaged in criminal activity from the early age of seven. Several of my family members, numbering a total of 16, were also involved in criminal behavior, raised in a home with no father.

As I listened to the viewpoints of Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, I scoffed at the notion of healing, associating it with the television ministry’s claims to instantaneous relief from bodily ailments. It was only after I reviewed my personal experiences that I discovered that I was actually living a Christian Science lifestyle myself. I was greatly influenced by my grandmother, who was frequently called upon to treat the afflicted in the black community. At that time, blacks were not allowed in the hospitals and found themselves with no other resource than to rely on spiritual means for healing. Without even realizing it, I was following in my grandmother’s footsteps in prison, helping those whom I encountered, as medical attention to prisoners was scant at the time.

I found myself administering to those who had injuries from sporting activities to stab wounds in violent altercations to mental health challenges of those who had lost their way, striving for a finish line with no end in sight. Suicide by hanging and wrist slashings were common occurrences among those who had given in to the darkness of hopelessness and discouragement.

It wasn’t long before I attracted the attention of prison guards, who also came to me in their distress. After 47 years of incarceration, my sentence was reduced and I was released on parole. Within only a week of my release I found that there was a Christian Science Church within walking distance from my home. I began attending all the services the church had to offer, including Sunday services and a Wednesday testimony meeting, where members would share personal accounts of healing through the application of the laws of God known as Christian Science treatment. The outpouring of love that I received upon my first visit was overwhelming.

For the first time in my life I was able to see a God that was active in my day-to-day affairs, as opposed to one that was beyond my reach, only to be known and understood in the hereafter. A God that had provided for my every need all of my life even though I was blind to His presence. I came to see that this loving, divine Presence had been with me at every critical juncture of my life, providing guidance, comfort and protection. Throughout my life I had been told, from the most callous of criminals to the sincerest members of law enforcement that I encountered, that I had a spiritual sense about me. Now I came to see that that spiritual sense was my God-given identity as the child of God which was untouched by environment, racial viewpoints, heredity, social norms.

Since that first day when I walked through the doors of my neighborhood Christian Science church I have been constantly embraced and supported by the members of that church. Words alone cannot express the gratitude for the teachings I have acquired in Christian Science and its transformative effect on my life. I now am an active member of this church, striving each day to bear witness to all the good that God has to give.

– by Daniel Alexander

Photo by Akira Hojo on Unsplash

Carlos Cervantes is Life Coach & Ride Home Program Manager for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC).  We’ll be discussing tips and best practices for the ride home process, as well as issues to be aware of and how to prepare for this important part of the reentry process.

About our guest for this call:

Carlos has been involved with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) since its creation. Carlos strongly believes in being present with those being released from prison. In 2012, along with Michael Romano, Director of Stanford School of Law Three Strikes Project, Carlos co-founded the ARC Ride Home Program, which was nationally recognized by the administration of President Barack Obama and was awarded the Champions of Change Award. The New York Times Magazine has profiled Carlos for the Ride Home Program.

Carlos is currently ARC’s Ride Home Program Manager and Life Coach for the 2nd Chance Apprenticeship Readiness Program participants. Carlos was awarded the Empowerment Congress 2019 Emerging Civic Leaders 40 Under Forty Award by Mark Ridley-Thomas, Supervisor, Second District. Carlos is currently a John W. Mack Movement Building Fellow. He was recognized by Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti. Carlos sits on the Clothes The Deal Board of Directors www.clothesthedeal.org

Carlos was featured in a Netflix documentary.  Learn more about Carlos and The Anti​-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) here:

• A Ride Home From Prison | Op-Docs | The New York Times
• NBC Nightly News-Lester Holt Ride Home Program
• https://www.netflix.com/title/80240923
• http://www.antirecidivism.org  
• https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-justice-advocacy-project/ 
  
• NYT | “You Just Got Out of Prison. Now What?” 
  
• NYT | “The White House’s Pick-Up Artists” 
  
• NYT | “Out of Prison, and Staying Out, After 3rd Strike in California” 
  
• Rolling Stone | “Inside the Three Strikes Project: An Inmate’s Letter”

We invite you to join a special Embraced:Fully online gathering on Sunday, 11/20/21 at 7:00 pm (Pacific time zone).

Topic for the meeting:  “Giving Thanks for Our Blessings”

This will be an open floor meeting, and you are invited to share your blessings, challenges, and hopefully leave with good momentum going into Thanksgiving week.

Our apologies for the last-minute notice, hope to see you if you can make it!

Our mission is to help organize, train, educate and enable Angel Teams across the United States to help prepare qualified returning community members for successful reentry.

Our guest for this interview is Troy Spann Jr., a Returning Community Member living in Southern California.  At the age of 17, he was sentenced to life in prison with no opportunity for parole.  Watch this story to learn how he found Christian Science while in prison, resulting in a truly amazing life transformation.  Recently released from the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, he has been settling into his new life on the outside with the support of a dedicated Embraced:Fully Angel Team.

Please visit https://embracedfully.org/subscribe to join our email list to receive notifications of our regular Angel Team meetings (guests welcome!) and also when we share new videos like this one.

We welcome your comments below, and also ask you to share this video with anyone you think would appreciate it!

Embraced:Fully is a sponsored program of The Principle Foundation.  We welcome your financial support for this work… please donate today.

Our next Embraced:Fully Interview Series call will be Thursday, October 7, at 6:00 pm Pacific.  We’ll be recording the session in case you can’t make it.

About our guest for this call:

Our guest for this interview is Troy Spann Jr., a Returning Community Member living in Southern California.  Recently released from the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, he has been settling into his new life on the outside with the support of a dedicated Embraced:Fully Angel Team.  He’ll share his story, including how he found Christian Science while in prison, and the true life transformation he’s experienced.

You are welcome to join the Zoom call to hear Troy’s story and to learn more about the role that Angel Teams can play in a successful return home for Returning Community Members.

Our next Embraced:Fully Interview Series call will be this Thursday, August 5, at 6:00 pm Pacific.  We’ll be recording the session in case you can’t make it.

About our guest for this call:

Our guest for this interview is Boyce Dancer, a Returning Community Member in Texas.  Raised in Fort Worth, Texas, he was incarcerated and served a number of years in prison.  During this time he took up the study of Christian Science and was released in April 2021.  Welcomed home by members of the Embraced:Fully Houston and Dallas Angel Teams, he shares that he is “making great progress towards his goals with God’s guidance.”

You are welcome to join the Zoom call to hear Boyce’s story and to learn more about the role an Angel Team can play in a successful return home.

Join us this Thursday, May 20, 6:00 pm Pacific for our monthly Angel Team Zoom call.  This is a monthly working meeting for Angel Teams across the nation, and also people interested in volunteering to either start or join one.  Angel Teams help returning community members succeed in not going back to prison or jail.

Agenda for the call:

1. Introductions – Introduce yourself, where are you, are you currently or planning on working with any returning community members?
2. Invite participants to share any progress updates or immediate challenges
3. Recent Texas release / welcome home report (Houston and Dallas Angel Team experiences)
4. Share details about Embraced:Fully and The Principle Foundation – they have agreed to be our fiscal sponsor!
5. Fundraising update – 2 applications submitted so far
6. December 2022 Goal of 100% Angel Team coverage for qualified RCMs (potentially ~72 individuals served nationwide in next 18 months)
7. Confirm next meeting dates, wrap up meeting

60%-70% of those released from prison return within 3 years.  Our mission is to help get the recidivism rate as close to zero as possible for participating Returning Community Members through direct support as well as providing training, mentorship and education for volunteers who share this goal.

Thanks to everyone who was able to make our last Zoom meeting on 11/11. It was great to hear directly from two returning community members (Joseph and Carlos) about some of their experiences, challenges, and hopes for the future.

Going forward, we’re planning on a recurring series of meetings, each focused on a different aspect of this work.

The first will be a series of interviews with a Q&A session afterwards, featuring returning community members, probation officers, chaplains and other people involved in this work. Everyone is invited to attend this series, and it will be recorded and shared afterwards for people not able to make it.

We will also continue our series of ongoing meetings with Angel Team working groups. These sessions will be focused on logistics, training, checklists, fundraising, and other activities related to actively supporting RCMs as well as soon to be released individuals.

Our next Interview Series meeting will be on December 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm Pacific. We will be diving deeper into the experiences of a RCM who was recently released (Joseph) and will be sharing some stories of how he found Christian Science in prison, the pre-release process, and some of his experiences after being released. All are welcome to attend, and feel free to forward this Zoom invite to anyone you think would like to come.

Recap of our last Angel Team Working Group call on 11/11/20:
– Introductions, welcome RCM participants Carlos and Joseph
– Discussed overall goals and upcoming projects for Embraced:Fully
– Joseph and Carlos shared some of their experiences. Joseph recently got out of prison and is living in transitional housing, Carlos was released in the early 2000’s and is done with his supervision this upcoming January.
– Discussed the high significance of transportation and housing
– Discussed Albert Baker Fund Career Alliance (https://abfcareeralliance.org), Healing101Talks.org (https://healing101talks.org/) as potential resources for RCMs interested in career connections and watching Christian Science lectures / videos
– Joseph mentioned a number of other (non CS) groups offering support to RCMs: Volunteers of America, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition,  and the California STOP program (Specialized Treatment for Optimized Programming)

If you would like to join the next Angel Team Working Group meeting (currently scheduled for Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at 6:00 pm Pacific), please email David Fowler (gofinddavid@gmail.com) or Gabriel Serafini (gserafini@gmail.com).  Here is our current agenda for the next Team meeting: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18UK_OJ0GilWCTRDHdx9U59oWo0g3AquA–pLdBxODd0/edit?usp=sharing

Nationwide, the population of prisoners sentenced to life increased by nearly five times between 1989 and 2016, according to the nonprofit Sentencing Project. In many states, the chances of a “lifer” being released have been slim to none. But in California, that began to change in 2008 with key legal decisions, and since 2010, more than 6,000 people with life terms have been granted parole.

For the newly released, the tripwires of daily life lie in wait. That’s where the Peer Reentry Navigation Network (PRNN), launched five years ago, can come in. The program, in which ex-offenders serve as mentors, is based on the premise that those who have already successfully navigated life on the outside are best suited to light the way for others.

“The most important people you have are the people in this room,” says Joe Calderon, a peer mentor, at PRNN meetings in San Francisco.

Mr. Calderon’s past included gang involvement and the fatal shooting of a security guard during a botched robbery attempt. Eventually, he became a lifer parolee, and in addition to his PRNN mentoring, he’s now a senior community health worker. “Helping is my medicine,” he says. “It keeps me humble.”

Read the full article here: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2020/0814/From-life-in-prison-to-out-on-parole-One-group-easing-the-transition

And here’s a video showing the day that the founder of the program received the Jefferson Award for service:

We look forward to participating in this good work as modeled by PRNN and other successful reentry programs.

If you’ve been watching the Light in Prison video series, you already know there are people inside prisons and jails who actively study Christian Science and apply it to their everyday lives.

For many, there are no family members or friends to turn to after they’re released. Corresponding chaplain programs can provide continuing spiritual support. But, no one to help financially…that is, until now.

Watch this video to learn how The Principle Foundation, (a Christian Science benevolence organization) is now eager to provide short-term grants and needed supplies so that returning citizens can more quickly integrate back into society, start attending a Christian Science church, and meet people–like you–who will inspire them to move onward and upward.

This is definitely a resource to know about! Please feel free to share any ideas you have on this or other site-related topics. You can leave them in the “Comment” area under the video. Thanks for watching!

Principle Foundation contact information from video:

Jeff Harbin, Grant Administrator, The Principle Foundation
Phone: 816-759-5445
Email: jeff@principlefoundation.org
The Principle Foundation
9300 W. 110th St., Suite 250
Overland Park, KS 66210