The author is Richard Shaw, a chaplain who has a responsibility to minister in prisons. However, for him it is more than a ministry. It is a calling that makes him different from all other chaplains who might be given the responsibility. Every minute spent with these incarcerated human beings points at a different experience about salvation, God and humanity.
According to Shaw, human beings consider prisoners as outcasts, criminals and people who walked behind bars with their eyes wide open. It is his encounters that paint a different picture of jail and the people behind bars. The book captures their journeys to the current situation and reasons why their incarceration will never be justified. This is also a reflection of the justice system and the role it is playing in rehabilitating these perceived criminals.
And how is prison life? Where is hope while the justice system has condemned you to life in prison? What is the role of religion in such a setting, a religion that preaches on forgiveness and repentance? These are deep philosophical questions that Richard seeks to explore in this book. The answers will surprise you just like some of the cases described in this book.
Prison is a ministry where people will be assigned yet not everyone can manage that. Shaw chose to work in prison because it was a special calling. This experience revealed a world of difference between people who are free and those living behind bars. According to Richard, it takes the grace of God to minister in this environment.
What role do prisons play in the society and is it still relevant today? Are people being changed by being locked up and what activities go on behind bars to facilitate this change? There is a desire to change with most people waking up to this reality immediately they settle in prison. But is there a return door for such people? Surprisingly, prison warders and people who appear to command a lot of respect in this environment are also in a prison of their own.
The choice of such words as naked points at a helpless situation. It leaves you thinking about the form of nakedness that people in prison experience. This is a place with no secrets. How does it affect the people who go in and how do they live? The book exposes what else these people are stripped of apart from their cloths.
This is a fast read title that will change your perspective about life in prison and the people behind bars. Your perspective of prisoners and prison life will never be the same. It also gives you a chance to look at those who work in the environment differently, based on the reality they encounter on daily basis.
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