In Perfect Peace has been greatly blessed with our outreach to the men and women on Death Row. It began several years ago when myself and my Co-Director Beryl Smith began traveling to San Quentin to meet with several brothers in Christ who had been on the row for decades.

 

In recent years we have reached out to all 23 women who are on CA Death Row, – living at the CA Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, CA. A good group of women have responded to our women’s discipleship team in Southern CA and it’s been a great blessing ministering to them. Additionally we are reaching out and coming alongside a number of other women on Death Row in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North & South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.

 

Life on Death Row is very different from the lives other inmates live who are in the general population. Every minute a death row inmate is outside of their cell, they are cuffed. Depending on the state, almost every hour is spent in their cell. I can only speak to visiting my friends on CA death row, and it is sad and sorrowful. They are treated more like animals than people. Your visit is inside of a 6x6 foot CAGE with a small table and two chairs. When the CO’s determine the visit is over, you barely have time to say goodbye as they are cuffed and taken away.

 

We have been blessed by the steadfast faith in Christ that reflect the lives of many of the death row inmates that we reach out to, striving to bring encouragement and hope to their lives. There is some amazing talent among many of our death row inmates. Some have artistic talent that is nothing short of incredible, as well as great skill in poetry. We will regularly be featuring some of the work from our death row friends. Most recently, Jack Friend has designed two beautiful greeting cards for use in our ministry. As of June 2022, thanks to a big brother second to none, I’ve been able to get a quantity of these greeting cards printed. We hope to make them available to other prison ministries at cost, and to families who have a loved one or friend who is incarcerated.

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We’ve started an outreach called “Adopt a Death Row Inmate in Prayer.” In the coming days we will be featuring photos of many of our death row friends, and we are hoping that many of God’s people would simply pick an inmate and lift them up in prayer as you go to the Lord each day. Any of these men and women are available to write to if you should feel led to do so. You can email our webmaster Jeff Wheldon and he can provide you the necessary information to make this happen.

 

We fully understand that neither you or me, or any of these men and women on death row can change the events that have taken place in their lives so many years ago. Just like you and me, they stand before God this very day. What really matters is that they have come to Christ as people who are broken and who stand before God with a repentant heart, trusting in the cross of Christ to cleanse them from ALL of their sin, - past, present and future. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we encourage them to “forget what lies in the past, and press on toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus.”

 

Thank God all of us who are “In Christ” can take comfort that our sins have been cast into the depths of the deepest sea, – to be remembered no more. “As far as the east is from the West, so far has our transgressions been separated from us.” On this very day, as I lift up these men & women who have come to Christ, I praise our great and gracious God for his mercies that are renewed for His people every day. Glory be to God in the highest!

         ...Gregg Harris, Founder / Director of In Perfect Peace Ministries