REDEMPTION: This Alabama jail has seen more people baptized than most churches

Chaplain Richard Green baptizes an inmate at the Calhoun County Jail.

ANNISTON, Ala. — Richard Green has performed more baptisms since 2008 than most pastors do in their lifetimes. But he’s not the pastor of a mega-church or an evangelist trekking around the country. In fact, he’s done all of those baptisms in one of the last place you’d expect — jail.

As the chaplain of the Calhoun County Jail in Anniston, Green says he has seen the power of the Gospel move in profound ways. Hundreds of inmates have been baptized each year since 2008 as a result of his program.

“As of today there will be roughly 1,664 [inmates baptized] in the last six and a half years,” he told ABC 33/40.

Judson Brewster, a corrections officer at the jail, said the key to getting the inmates back into society living productive lives is for them to experience a genuine change of heart. Holding them accountable for their crimes is just the beginning of that. Giving them hope for the future helps, too, and that’s where Chaplain Green comes in.

“We believe that if someone has a true change of heart they can have a true change of life,” he said. “What Chaplain Richard Green has done with the Calhoun County Jail ministry is given the people the chance to get themselves out and get back where they need to be and get back up on their feet.

“Hopefully they take it serious,” he continued. “Hopefully it’s a way for them to be better parents, be better husbands, better wives, better role models. Change a life so you can go out there and be better contributors to society.”

The inmates have responded in droves, and local officials believe it has not only changed individual lives, but also may be helping decrease recidivism rates.

“[This baptism] means starting over fresh,” said inmate Christopher Moore, who’s been in and out of jail for years. “I’ve burned a lot of bridges out there and done a lot of people wrong. With Jesus, I hope to be able to get all that back.”

The program has even compelled some of the inmates to now believe going to jail was a blessing in disguise.

“It was probably about three months after I got here that I really got back into my Bible, and turned my life over to my Lord, Jesus Christ,” said Sonya Lloyd, who was among more than a dozen female inmates baptized this past weekend. “I prayed for a better life. I wanted out of the life that I was leading, and I asked God to help me get out of it and that’s how I believe I ended up here, is God got me out of it.”

The program is not without its critics, though. Some say the inmates are just paying lip-service to God at a vulnerable time in their lives, but will return to their old ways once they’re back out on the street. Chaplain Green said that may be true of some, but it does not deter him from trying.

“If a person chooses to do this without the true reason, that decision is between them and their Maker,” he said. “Quite frankly I will never know. However, they know, and the rest of their life can be affected by that.”

(h/t ABC 33/40)