Inmates find freedom in Christ behind barbed wire and bars

PUTNAM COUNTY (FBC)—Twenty-three years ago Jimmy Williams sat in the Putnam County jail fighting charges that could have resulted in two life sentences or execution. Today he returns to the county’s barbed wire-enclosed correctional facility almost every day to fight for the souls of inmates.

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As the volunteer chaplain of the Putnam County jail, Williams befriends prisoners, provides writing materials and magazines, delivers family messages and ensures that religious “diets” are maintained. But according to him, his true mission is “to win people to Christ. That is strictly the sole purpose of this ministry.”

Every Saturday morning, Williams and his band of volunteers enter through the locked doors of the jail for a time of fellowship, prayer and salvation message.

He returns to the jail Sunday nights for Bible study with the trustees, Monday nights for Bible study with women and on Tuesday nights for Bible study for men in solitary confinement.

For a man who at age 37 wanted only to be free from jail, the 60-year-old Williams devotes much of his life behind the barbed wire and bars.

“Jimmy is one of those people who was gloriously saved,” said Ed Scott, director of missions for the St. Johns River Baptist Association. “God has given him a passion and burden for inmates. He’s been there and he knows what it’s like. He loves them, cares for them and just wants them to know about the love of Christ.”

Williams’ dramatic transformation took place as he sat in solitary confinement at the jail. At age 13 Williams dropped out of school, left home and began hanging out at bars. “I just really went wild, drinking, brawling and fighting. I was really not a criminal, but I lived a rough life.”

He had been in and out jail several times but in 1976, “I hit big time,” he explained. “I was facing two life sentences of 25 years each or the electric chair if convicted of the charges that I was accused of. I was not guilty of those charges, but I put myself in a position to be accused.” Williams does not give further details.

It took more than 14 months for Williams to be cleared of the charges. About six months into his incarceration, a newly converted friend discovered the Jacksonville native in jail and began regularly visiting him. Talking with him in his solitary confinement over a speaker box, she told him that she was now “living for Jesus,” Williams recalled. She witnessed to him.

“On a Thursday evening, Oct. 21, 1976, I sat there on that old steel bunk and I began taking inventory of my past life,” Williams recalled. “I realized that the life I lived was not profitable and I was ashamed. God began to deal with me. I told him that I had ruined my life up to this point and it there is any part of me that He could use, I was His.”

Almost immediately, Williams recalled, “It was just like God was right there and somebody had lifted a thousand pound weight off my shoulders, it was that relief.”

Eventually, Williams was cleared of the charges, but received another one-year sentence for another crime. While serving that sentence, he became a model prisoner and was allowed to participate in the work release program. He began witnessing his Christian faith to others. Eventually the sheriff allowed him to attend church services.

“God just opened the doors and people were beginning to trust me.”

Now 27 years later, the businessman and lay preacher has dedicated a lifetime to prison ministry. He was named volunteer chaplain in the Putnam County jail in 2001. The ministry continues to flourish. On the average, six inmates make professions of faith each month. Three former prisoners have followed him into the ministry.

More than 70,000 men and women live in Florida’s prisons. Funding from the Maguire State Mission Offering will help provide Biblical materials and training resources to prepare Florida Baptists to minister to the state’s prison population.

“People need Christ and unless we have a ministry coming into this jail the people here will not hear about Him,” said Williams. “Some people claim they have never had any knowledge of Christ, or if they have heard, they are like I was and are running away from Him.”

Williams also believes people are more open to the claims of Christ in prison. “When they hit rock bottom, that’s when you can really talk to them so if we’re not here when they hit rock bottom, the opportunity is lost.”

“I stress to the inmates that you may be behind bars, but you can be free. You can be freer here than you can be on the outside. Even in here they can have spiritual freedom.”