Learning to Sing in a Strange Land: When a Loved One Goes to Prison

Prison is a strange land, a land of deep heartache and sadness. Over two million people are serving prison time in America. Millions more are carrying the mark of prison as those who were formerly incarcerated, including large numbers of men and women who have been released on parole. In the midst of such human misery, when ＂loosened tongues＂ are freed to sing of God’s redemptive love, grief is diminished and the prison loses its power.

Wesley Stevens is a retired United Methodist minister who served for twenty-seven years as the Administrator of Holly Hall, a Christian Retirement Community in Houston, Texas. Since 1998, he and his wife, Marilyn, have coordinated a volunteer weekend ministry to family members and friends who visit loved ones at the three prisons near Dayton, Texas.