Inmates serving time in the California State Prison system have very little privacy. Every letter that is sent to them is opened and read by staff before it gets to the inmate and all phone calls made by the inmates are recorded. Personal face-to-face visits in the state prisons take place in a large room setup with numbered tables spread out across the room. Each inmate and and their visitors are assigned a table that is far enough away from the other tables so that personal conversations can take place without others hearing. The whole room is monitored by video but conversations are not recorded. There are vending machines and board games available, and it is a place where inmates can feel some sense of normalcy. One of the highlights of the visit is a shared meal provided by Chaplain Tom courtesy of the vending machine!

Sadly many inmates never get personal visits. Often they are in a prison far away from family and family simply cannot afford to visit them. Visits have to be scheduled and often they can be canceled without notice if there is an incident in the prison that forces a facility lockdown. Imagine having a loved one in a prison 400 miles away. You save up money for the long drive, a hotel, and food. When you get to the prison they inform you that all visits are canceled. You have no choice but to drive home without seeing your loved one.

Inmates consistently report that personal visits are a lifeline for them and emails we get from inmates after personal visits express how beneficial the visits were for them. Inmates now have free phone calls and tablets from which they can send email, so communication is not difficult and every week we get many calls and emails, but the personal visits do what phone and email messaging cannot.

Your support of Hilltop Chaplain Ministries will help Chaplain Tom travel around the state to visit inmates in the prisons. It is our desire to help every inmate we are in contact with find God’s purposes for their life in their prison setting, living out their faith as missionaries in a dark place.