CHRISTIAN JAIL MINISTRY

CJM Programs at the Howard County Detention Center (HCDC) in Jessup, Maryland. For additional information, click on group activities, individual activities, or other links indicated.

Worship services are normally arranged by a group from a particular church, and that group will provide a pianist, song leader, and speaker. In addition, someone may give a testimony or sing a solo or have some other part in the services. The Lead Chaplain has responsibility for a number of services during the year apart from those conducted by a church group. He can use people willing to serve as pianist, song leader, or provide special music. If interested, contact him (see bottom of this page).

Bible classes, Christian videos, etc. People willing to serve on the teams that lead these should contact the CJM Lead Chaplain (see bottom of this page).

Pastoral counseling is restricted to regular members of the clergy. Those interested in being available when needed should contact the CJM Lead Chaplain (see bottom of this page).

Christian "Twelve Step" programs to counter addictions are led by volunteers with special training in 12-step programs. If interested, contact the CJM Lead Chaplain for details.

Discipleship training is done one-on-one with the volunteer meeting with the same inmate each week. The Survival Kit for New Christians is the basic study material used in this program.

Distribution of Scriptures and Christian literature is done by a volunteer who takes a literature to inmate housing areas. Volunteers also keep the literature racks in the chapel appropriately stocked with materials and help the chaplains with ordering literature and maintaining in stock.

Bible correspondence courses are described in the page about this program.

Poetry review and guidance -- this program is described in its own page.

Volunteer orientation, supervision, and religious program coordination is discussed in the Volunteer training program.

CJM Programs in the Community

Grading inmate Bible correspondence course lessons is described in its own page.

Christmas/school help for inmate children is usually handled by the group of churches that organize it each year. If your church is interested in being part of this program this year, you should send an email that lets us know that ( cjm@christianjailministry.org ).

Community awareness activities: challenging churches to be part of the ministry to prisoners in our area and challenging the community to care about the needs of former prisoners and the families of inmates and former prisoners.

Volunteers willing to help in PR are much needed -- an important and sometimes frustrating part of the ministry is keeping it and its needs before the community.

To contact the CJM Lead Chaplain:

by phone (410-997-0253)
by email ( chaplain@christianjailministry.org)

If you wish, you may download a copy of the Orientation and Training Materials for Religious Volunteers.

This download is large, so may take awhile to download, depending on your connection to the Internet. However, it may be well worth it. To open the attachment, click here, if you wish to download it, right click the "click here" link and choose the "Save Target As" option.