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Prison Seminary Program Gives Inmates Second Chance

by SHELIA BYRD, Associated Press Writer , June 11, 2009

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PARCHMAN, Miss.

 

The graduates patted each other's backs and nervously chatted with their families. Some sat quietly, meditating about their future while others wept.

 

It could have been a scene from any of the thousands of commencement ceremonies this year. But these graduates were convicted killers, rapists and drug dealers at Mississippi's only maximum security prison.

 

The Parchman inmates received bachelor's degrees in Christian ministry from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The accredited Southern Baptist school first began offering prison courses in 1996 to Louisiana inmates at Angola prison. Along with expanding to Parchman, the seminary is working in Georgia and Florida prisons, said seminary provost Steve Lemke.

 

The path to graduation was dangerous for inmates at Parchman. Some were beaten out of prison gangs or mocked by the criminals they'll soon attempt to counsel and lead to faith.

 

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