May 8, 2000

Need for ministry to deaf inmates grows in state prisons
___By Dan Martin
___Texas Baptist Communications
___HOUSTON--Ninety deaf male inmates serve time in the Estelle Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Arthur Craig reported.
___"And one of the men is both deaf and blind. How terrible it must be to be isolated by

ARTHUR CRAIG makes the American Sign Language sign for prison. He ministers to the 90 deaf male inmates at Estelle Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville.

being both deaf and blind and to be locked up too," he said. "When I tell people that, their response is shock and disbelief."
___Eleven years ago, only a few deaf men were sent to prison, and they were scattered throughout the system, he noted Then, the decision was made to house all of the deaf male inmates in one unit, the Estelle Unit in Huntsville.
___"This presented Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church the perfect opportunity to begin a deaf prison ministry," said Craig, the church's pastor.
___Craig, who is hearing, felt called to work with deaf people while he was in the insurance business in Greenville, S.C.
___"My wife thought we should get involved in missions in some way," he recounted. "She heard about a conference that taught sign language, and she talked me into going with her so she would have somebody to practice with."
___They both felt led to work with deaf people, and he returned to school, first at Furman University and then at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
___After seminary, he began serving at Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church, which was started 76 years ago as a mission of First Baptist Church of Houston. Although the congregation now has its own building and more than 300 members, with an average attendance on a given Sunday of 140, it remains a mission.
___He has a large church field, with more than 12,000 deaf and an untold number of hearing-impaired people in Houston.
___But when all of the male deaf inmates were moved into one location, Craig said, it was ideal to begin a prison ministry. The church ministers only at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville to male deaf prisoners.
___"I think there are six or eight deaf women prisoners, and they are in the Gatesville area," he said.
___The church goes to the Estelle Unit one Sunday a month to conduct worship services, and Craig goes every Tuesday night for Bible study.
___"I have never felt more in the center of God's will than when I am ministering in prison," he said. "I really feel I am ministering to the body of Christ."
___"Since we began ministering at the prison, we have seen many of the men accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. We have had the opportunity to baptize more than 25 men since we started the ministry," he said.
___The number of deaf inmates is growing because judges are no longer reluctant to sentence them to prison, he explained.
___"In the past, the judges did not send many deaf people to prison because they did not think there were services for them, but since the deaf are all housed in one unit, the judges are no longer reluctant to sentence them."
___The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has assigned a chaplain who knows American Sign Language--Tom Cole--to serve the deaf inmates.
___"He is a godsend," Craig declared.
___Deaf people "go to prison for the same reasons that hearing people do," he said, adding the incidence of crime by deaf people is increasing. "Many are serving time for murder, sex crimes, drugs and all the rest."
___But "the needs of deaf people in prison are complicated many times over by their deafness," he added. "Also, the deaf are not afforded the same opportunities while in prison as the hearing simply because of the lack of interpreters and the communications breakdown between prison staff and inmates."
___Craig and the members of the congregation have ministered as they can to the deaf inmates, but he has had a growing concern about the kind of care provided to deaf inmates when they are released from prison.
___"Deaf inmates are released without the care and support needed to reintegrate. The recidivism rate is higher for deaf than for hearing offenders," he said.
___At the present time, no aftercare facility in the state of Texas is equipped to assist the specialized needs of deaf offenders, he said.
___Not long ago, Craig came into contact with the staff of Wholeway House in Willis, a facility designed to help Christian offenders successfully reintegrate into society after their time in prison.
___"We began to have the vision of starting an aftercare program for the Christian deaf at Wholeway," Craig said. "They are planning a program that will provide a full-time staff person skilled in American Sign Language to guide the program. Deaf ex-offenders will follow the same program as the hearing of being mentored, discipled and finding employment."
___The aim of the program is to help former inmates successfully reintegrate into society.
___"We have had our first application by a deaf inmate to come to the aftercare facility," he said.
___The deaf prison ministry and aftercare program desperately need financial resources, Craig noted. Also volunteers skilled in sign language are needed.
___"Most of all," he said, "we ask for prayer."
___

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