Bloodiest Prison in America Becomes the Most Evangelized

Brian Blackwell/Teresa Neumann Reporting : Feb 10, 2006
BPNews

On Oct. 23, 1990, policeman Gary Hobbs was accompanying a parole office to issue a probation warrant for the arrest of Todd Bass in Mansfield, La. Bass, however, resisted the arrest and fatally wounded the parole officer, firing at Hobbs, who retaliated. Hobbs suffered a minor wound to his wrist and Bass was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder.

Fast forward fourteen years to June 16, 2004. Gary Hobbs, reaching a point of "personal misery and emptiness in his life," visits Southside Baptist Church in Mansfield. It was reportedly the first time Hobbs had "darkened the doors" of a church building. Four days later, during the Sunday morning service, Hobbs accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.

"Everything changed from that point," Hobbs said. "It's amazing how you can walk into a building all depressed with no peace and come out a totally different person."

Several months later, according to a report in BPNews, Hobbs heard pastor Troy Terrell preach about forgiveness. "The Lord spoke to me," Hobbs said, "and after the service was over, I told the pastor that God was revealing lots of hatred that was built inside me."

Shortly after, Hobbs and Terrell visited the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola so that the police officer could sit face to face with Bass. "I told him of the change in my life and that I didn't have a problem with him anymore," Hobbs recounted. "He stared at the ground for a few moments and looked up at me with tears running down his eyes. I then heard the most sincere apology I had ever heard," Hobbs said. "From then on, there were no hard feelings between us."

After their meeting, Hobbs and Terrell toured Angola, a prison with a violent reputation. "Wherever I went on the tour, I experienced nothing but a friendly reception from the prisoners," Hobbs said. "I didn't feel threatened or hear any foul language. Moral rehabilitation has changed their lives."

Once known as the bloodiest prison in the United States, notes reporter Brian Blackwell, the Angola prison has experienced a revival of sorts since warden Burl Cain instituted moral rehabilitation. Since 1995, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary has offered extension classes at the prison, which Cain attributes for the drop in violence at Angola.

During the course of their conversation with the prison warden, Hobbs and Terrell were informed of the need for a chapel at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in St. Gabriel and within 45 days, Southside Baptist Church members and others from the community raised more than the $150,000 that was needed. In March of 2005, the check was presented to the Louisiana Prison Chapel Foundation. Construction on the 700-seat chapel should be complete this year.

"Throughout the years, we have seen rehabilitation programs that utilize the Bible can change prisoners," said Hobbs. "If you change the prisoners and they are released, then they may have a positive effect on the rest of their families. In turn, those family members will not resort to a life a crime."

Terrell agrees. "The only way to change a person is when Jesus enters his or her heart," he said. "By building the chapels in the women's prisons, we are breaking lots of generational curses. Statistics show that children of prisoners have a higher chance of going to prison.

"If the bloodiest prison in America can become the most-evangelized prison, anything is possible," Terrell said.