Only The Lord Can Change Hearts and The Stats In Prison

This ad is funny…But not fun when the rise of number of women incarcerated continues to be on the rise since the 80’s. Most of them have drug convictions or violations. Look at these stats [source: Women's Prison Association]:

~ Over 200,00 women are in prison and jail in United States. More than 1 million women are under criminal justice supervision

There were 115,779 women incarcerated in either state or federal prisons at midyear 2008

• The average daily adult female jail population at midyear 2008 was 99,175

• At year end 2007, there were 987,427 women on probation, representing 23% of the total probation population.

• Women represented 12% of the parole population (98,923 women) in 2007

The number of women in prison has grown by over 800% in the past three decades
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• The female prison population grew by 832% from 1977 to 2007. The male prison population grew 416% during the same time period

• Oklahoma has the highest female imprisonment rate at 134 per 100,000 women. Massachusetts has the lowest rate of female imprisonment at 13 per 100,000 women

Two thirds of women in prison are there for non-violent offenses, many for drug-related crimes.

• Twenty-eight percent of women in state prison at year end 2005 were sentenced for drug offenses. Property offenses accounted for another 28% of the female state prison population.

Together, property and drug crimes – non-violent offenses – make up nearly 2/3 of the population of women in prison. At yearend 2005, 35% of women in prison were convicted of violent offenses

• Over 2.5 million women were arrested in 2007, accounting for nearly a quarter of all arrests. The arrests of women increased nearly seven percent from 1998 to 2007

• In the five-year period from 2003 to 2007, arrests of women for drug violations increased 29%, compared to 15% for men




Remember them in your prayers and ask God to transform the lives of these inmates, both women and men.

Change in our hearts only comes from the Lord. Nothing or no one else can.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 - “26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” [NIV]


1 Peter 3:8-10 - “8Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.” [NIV]

Luke 6:35- “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” [NIV]

Stingball Grenades

You can also watch this video.


Stingball grenades are used to stop huge prison riots. It looks like a hand-held grenade and has 180 rubber pellets inside that can travel up to 50 feet from the area where it was detonated. When discharged, it produces a loud sound, a bright flash of light and sends those pellets everywhere to stun the rioting inmates.

I had seen the power of this non-lethal weapon used for many years in prisons. One night, out in the prison yard, obscured from inmates, the Sergeant demonstrated different kinds of forces and non-lethal weapons used to stop prison riots to us, the medical staff. Even when we were far, the sound it produced was scary, the light was surprising and blinding as it was thrown in the darkness of the night. And the medical staff huddled together… Frozen! Stunned! Afraid!

Sin had brought a lot of complications into our lives. Because of it, we, too, have a fight that goes on. Everyday. It starts with our decision-making. When we fall into sins’ traps, obviously, that’s when we make the wrong decisions. The Holy Spirit is here to convince the world of its sin. It comes like that stingball. When It hits you, of course, it hurts. Because He wants to bring you and I to repentance. He lets us know about God’s righteousness to anyone who believes.

John 16:8 - “And when he comes, he will convince the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.”

He also disciplines His children. Sometimes, even those who had previously surrendered to His Lordship still fall back to their old, ugly habits. But He comes in a big surprise like a stingball to stun or stop someone from being trapped again. The only thing that matters is how that person will accept the Holy Spirit’s conviction and discipline.

It is not enjoyable to feel the sting from God’s discipline. We can either accept it with resignation, or with self-pity thinking that we don’t deserve it, or even with anger and resentment toward God, or perhaps gratefully? The last one is the right response. When we learn to endure, it produces righteousness in the end. God does this because He loves us.

Hebrews 12:4-11: [NIV]

4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." 7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

And the beauty that comes from the sting of the Holy Spirit? It doesn’t kill anyone. Instead, it offers a gift of eternal life and righteousness!


[photo credit: bhigear.com]

Think Again

The Intake Nurse, getting swamped from loads of arriving arrestees at the prison's yards, asked for help last Friday night. The charge nurse sent me from the Clinic to Intake to help her out.

A loud-mouthed man walked in with the cops to be screened. As I motioned for him to sit down so I could start screening him, he started stating that he had a history of 3 heart attacks.

“You did?” I repeated. “And last time you had it?”

“About 2 years ago.” What he said next silenced the Intake Nurse and I.

“I know how to get what I want. Just go man down,” he said smiling. [Meaning fake a medical emergency if he wanted medications or even just to be brought to the hospital].

We believed that. Knowing that deep in the nurses’ hearts, even if inmates were just manipulating the system, we had no choice but to give our utmost care. We shouldn’t judge but just do the best to treat any symptoms.

I finished all the questions, preventing myself from saying something that would be inappropriate. But I couldn't help but gave him an advice, as he got up to be booked:

“Don’t be so sure that they won’t know you’re faking a man down. When medical staff determines that it was fake, you will get in a deeper trouble.”

“Oh no! I won’t,” he answered with a wide grin. Deep inside, I knew he didn’t mean that. Because he knew what to do whenever he wanted something. He was in and out of the prison system that he learned many things that went on.

But one thing he didn’t know. In my charting as I opened a medical chart for him, I put an “alert” by writing what he just told me:

“Inmate stated that ‘It’s easy to get what he wants. Just go man down!”

Because when that time comes, medical staff would be more ready when this very same man would fake an emergency or not. We might not know. But the vital signs do not lie. He might fake a chest pain. But the EKG readings won’t lie. Xrays result would not lie.

He thought he was smart. He thought he could outsmart the medical staff. I was hoping he took me seriously and would think again.

Think again…That‘s what we must do when we evaluate our faith or belief in God. We can‘t outsmart Him. “For His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.” [Isaiah 55:8,9]. He knows our weaknesses. He knows our limitations. He sees everything. But He loves us and cares so much for us that even though He knows what‘s going on in our lives, He wants us to still seek Him and lay out everything on His feet. For He wants to help us as we submit ourselves in prayers, with a repentant heart, with a broken spirit. If we are full of pride, how can His love and grace fill us? We need to be empty in order for God to fill us. We need to show our reverential fear to God.

We must stop living a self-centered life. We must stop believing we are god or we have other gods that can’t help us. [Psalm 14:1 - “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God”. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.” -NIV].

Galatians 6:7 - “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows”. -NIV

Think again…Are we truly smart or actually “fools”?

Stand Firm

“I’m going home on the 28th,” whispered the diabetic inmate who had been incarcerated for a long time. She has type 1 diabetes, meaning she used insulin to control her blood sugar. Despite the numerous accuchecks or checking her blood sugar level with a needle and giving insulin shots, she still wasn’t comfortable giving her own insulin shots to herself.

“Take care of yourself, especially your diabetes,” I replied. “Because you only have one life so don’t take it for granted.”

As I was talking with her, there was another female diabetic who came earlier prior to her. Not related to her diabetes, I kept her in the Clinic and scheduled for the jail doctor to be seen that morning. I noticed some weakness with the way she was walking when she came in. So I decided to have the jail doctor to evaluate her further.

Then, all of a sudden, I heard....

“Excuse me…Can you give me my shot?” asked this female inmate awaiting her anticipated freedom to the other sick inmate.

“Oh, no!” I exclaimed. “Don’t do that! I don’t want her getting poked with the needle that is not hers! Just try it! If you’re going home, you might as well keep practicing now so you can get used to it,” I added.

“Well, can she just help me out, even for once now?” she asked with a little bit of annoyance in her voice.

“No!” I firmly answered.

She wasn’t happy yet had no choice but to comply. It took her a long time to uncap the needle and slowly pushed the insulin under her skin on one of her arms. She gave the needle back to me when she got finished.

“See? You did great!” I hollered to reassure her. She didn’t say anything but just returned my compliment with a smile. She took her pass and went out the metal door to go back to her unit.

Witnessing is a matter of life and death. We witness in different ways. Through compassion or kindness. Sometimes, we might use tougher words when we are snatching them away from going to a fiery destination. We are to hate sins but we must witness with love to those who are still lost.

When finding a common ground, we must be careful not to fall into compromises. Our footings must be secure and safe. We must influence them for Christ instead of us, being influenced to sin. “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’”…[Matthew 5:37]

“20Dear friends, keep building on the foundation of your most holy faith, as the Holy Spirit helps you to pray. 21And keep in step with God's love, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to show how kind he is by giving you eternal life. 22Be helpful to all who may have doubts. 23Rescue any who need to be saved, as you would rescue someone from a fire. Then with fear in your own hearts, have mercy on everyone who needs it. But hate even the clothes of those who have been made dirty by their filthy deeds.” ~ Jude 1:20-23 [CEV]