"Tom, all these things that have held me down for so many years are being removed! I am so grateful and feel so liberated and peaceful. My older brother is also living for Christ and we talk often on the phone. Chaplain Tom, thank you for believing in me and never giving up on me!"

M.S. is a young man I first met at the Santa Clara County Main Jail. He was in a maximum security unit at the time and my first encounter with him was unusual. He asked who I was and I told him I was the Christian chaplain. He then became belligerent and complained that the county would spend money on a Christian chaplain and not a Satanist chaplain (at that time he was dabbling in Satanism). He made it clear that he had no respect for me or what I was doing. In spite of that beginning, I was able over time to form a relationship with this inmate and his attitude towards me softened. While in the county jail he struggled with substance abuse and violence, and was eventually sent to prison for a violent act he committed in the County Jail. I continued correspondence with him in prison. Just recently in the spring of 2024 I received this email from him:

“I was put in Ad-Seg (stands for Administrative Segregation–which is essentially solitary confinement, given for crimes and infractions committed while in prison) for assault and battery with great bodily injury for nine months. But I was let out after only three months, and in that time I committed my life to Christ. Christian podcasts played a role in that, and my co-defendant in my violence case has become my cellmate and also has committed his life to Christ. I officially gave my resignation from my prison gang. Tom, all these things that have held me down for so many years are being removed! I am so grateful and feel so liberated and peaceful. My older brother is also living for Christ and we talk often on the phone. Chaplain Tom, thank you for believing in me and never giving up on me! Please come and visit me as soon as you can!”