| Liberian fellowship prepares prisoners for society
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A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert
Comfort T. Nimineh-Logan, known as Mother Comfort, sings with inmates at Monrovia Central Prison.
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| Comfort
T. Nimineh-Logan, known as Mother Comfort, sings with inmates at the
Monrovia (Liberia) Central Prison. She along with group of ecumenical
Christians created the Prison Fellowship of Liberia in 1986, an
interdenominational ministry housed in the Liberia Annual Conference
Offices of the United Methodist Church. The fellowship is in dire need
of everything as it attempts to provide health and welfare to the
Monrovia Central Prison. The prison – like much of the city since the
end of the civil war in 2003 -- needs assistance with communications,
electricity and water/sewage, as well as food and toiletry items for
both men and women. A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert. Photo #06-080.
Accompanies UMNS story #047. 1/25/06 |
Jan. 25, 2006
By Linda Green*
MONROVIA, Liberia (UMNS) — She was arrested, served prison time and was
placed under house arrest after her release — all for a crime her husband
allegedly committed.
That experience compelled a Liberian United Methodist to found a ministry to
help meet the needs of prisoners in her country.
“I started this ministry because I went to prison myself for the crime I did
not commit in 1980,” said Comfort T. Nimineh-Logan.
Along with a group of ecumenical Christians, she created the Prison
Fellowship of Liberia in 1986. The evangelistic mission ministers to eight
prisons, prisoners and their families, ex-prisoners and crime victims in
Liberia.
“I was accused about my husband’s indebtedness to the government,” she said.
“He ran away and they thought they would get to him through me, but I knew
nothing about his whereabouts.”
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A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert
The
Rev. Joseph Sunday, a retired United Methodist pastor and prison
chaplain, speaks to the prisoners of the Monrovia (Liberia) Central
Prison about the importance of spiritual freedom.
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| The
Rev. Joseph Sunday, a retired United Methodist pastor and prison
chaplain, speaks to the prisoners of the Monrovia (Liberia) Central
Prison about the importance of spiritual freedom. He assists the Prison
Fellowship of Liberia, an interdenominational ministry housed in the
Liberia Annual Conference Offices of the United Methodist Church, in
preparing “the inmates for useful citizenship.” The fellowship is in
dire need of basic supplies and services as it attempts to provide
health and welfare to the Monrovia Central Prison. The prison — like
much of the city since the end of the civil war in 2003 — needs
assistance with communications, electricity and water/sewage, as well as
food and toiletry items for both men and women. A UMNS photo by Kathy
L. Gilbert. Photo #06-081. Accompanies UMNS story #047. 1/25/06 |
Nimineh-Logan spent four years either in prison or under house arrest. When
she was released — with help from the denomination’s Liberia Annual Conference
and staff of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries — other prisoners
asked that she not forget them or their stories.
“That worked round and round in my ear until 1985,” she said. While attending
a conference in Nairobi, Kenya, as a United Methodist representative, she
discovered her calling for prison ministry.
“You have to have faith to do prison ministry,” she said. Faith, she said,
carried her through all of the suffering she endured, including mistreatment and
robbery.
The interdenominational ministry, housed in the Liberia Conference office
compound and the recipient of United Methodist funds, seeks to help create a
violence-free society through evangelism and discipleship, reconciliation and
counseling, training and rehabilitation, feeding ministry, adult literacy and
empowerment.
Other denominations involved in the fellowship are Baptist, Pentecostal,
Episcopalian, African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion,
Lutheran and Presbyterian.
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A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert
The Rev. Joseph Sunday speaks to inmates at the Monrovia (Liberia) Central Prison.
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| The
Rev. Joseph Sunday, a retired United Methodist pastor and prison
chaplain, speaks to inmates at the Monrovia (Liberia) Central Prison.
The 200 inmates primarily consist of men who have committed armed
robbery, rape, murder and theft of property and women who have
misappropriated property and theft. The prison — like much of the city
since the end of the civil war in 2003 — needs assistance with
communications, electricity and water/sewage, as well as food and
toiletry items for both men and women. A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert.
Photo #06-082. Accompanies UMNS story #047. 1/25/06 |
“We speak for the destitute, and we speak for the voiceless,” Nimineh-Logan
said. “We have to learn to forgive. ... If you cannot forgive, the country
cannot move forward.”
Her vision is for a self-sufficient and self-reliant fellowship in its own
facilities, with an agriculture base that would provide food to the prison. The
fellowship is also affiliated with Prison Fellowship International, the ministry
founded by Charles Colson, who served prison time for his role in the Watergate
scandal.
Nimineh-Logan also seeks ways to get girls and children off the streets,
empower them to be responsible and help keep them from prison in the future.
Held without trial
The population at the Monrovia Central Prison comprises men who have
committed armed robbery, rape, murder and theft of property, and women who have
misappropriated property or otherwise engaged in theft, said the Rev. Joseph
Sunday, a retired United Methodist pastor and prison chaplain.
A news team from United Methodist News Service visited the Monrovia Central
Prison late last summer. The prison lacks adequate ventilation, and the odor of
unwashed bodies, illness and inadequate sanitation permeates the buildings. Bare
floors, darkness, overcrowding, leaking ceilings, lack of food and lack of
medicine are part of daily life for the prisoners. In some cells, prisoners
stepped over their cellmates, who laid on thin mattresses or the bare floor,
overcome with sickness.
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A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert
The
Rev. Francis S. Kollie, executive director of the Prison Fellowship of
Liberia, speaks to a female inmate at Monrovia Central Prison.
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| The
Rev. Francis S. Kollie, executive director of the Prison Fellowship of
Liberia, speaks to a female inmate at Monrovia Central Prison. Most of
the 200 inmates don’t know how long they will be at the prison; they
have never had a trial because they cannot afford a lawyer or court
costs. “In Liberia, it is a bit difficult to hire lawyers because they
want huge amounts of money now,” Kollie said. The inmate said she was in
jail because she owed someone the equivalent of U.S.$250. A UMNS photo
by Kathy L. Gilbert. Photo #06-083. Accompanies UMNS story #047.
1/25/06 |
Most of the 200 inmates don’t know how long they will be at the prison
because they have never had a trial; they cannot afford a lawyer or court costs,
said the Rev. Francis S. Kollie, executive director of the prison fellowship.
“In Liberia, it is a bit difficult to hire lawyers because they want huge
amounts of money now.”
“We are suffering here,” said inmate Alfonso Williams. A female inmate — one
of seven women in the prison at the time — said she was in jail because she owed
someone the equivalent of U.S.$250.
During the news team’s visit, Sunday spoke to the prisoners about the
importance of spiritual freedom.
“Through spiritual freedom, you become a new person, you have a new outlook,”
he told them. “You will be changed and take your rightful places in society.
Therefore, you must always think about spiritual freedom. Realize your
insufficiencies before God, realize that you are a sinner, realize that it is
only Jesus Christ that can save you, and confess your sins to him while you are
here. Admit what you have done through your personal prayer, and then you will
be free.”
Children in prison
As chaplain, Sunday assists the fellowship in preparing “the inmates for
useful citizenship.” His interest in prison ministry began in 1990 after
realizing “that most young people were behind bars. I said, ?Well, I have to
change my direction of ministry. Let me reach out to the young people and
counsel them.’”
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A UMNS photo by Linda Green
Comfort
T. Nimineh-Logan co-founded the Prison Fellowship of Liberia to “speak
for the destitute and we speak for the voiceless.”
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| Comfort
T. Nimineh-Logan co-founded the Prison Fellowship of Liberia in 1986 to
“speak for the destitute and … the voiceless.” The interdenominational
ministry, housed in the Liberia Annual Conference Offices of the United
Methodist Church, is in dire need of basic supplies as it attempts to
provide health and welfare to the Monrovia Central Prison. The prison —
like much of the city since the end of the civil war in 2003 — needs
assistance with communications, electricity and water/sewage, as well as
food and toiletry items for both men and women. A UMNS photo by Linda
Green. Photo #06-084. Accompanies UMNS story #047. 1/25/06 |
At the Monrovia prison, small juvenile cells house eight to 15 children each.
The news team saw 10 children there during its visit.
For 15 years, Sunday has worked in the prison system, often counseling 10
to15 inmates at a time.
“I counsel them on emotional stability because most of them are traumatized
(from the civil war),” he explained. “And those who seem to be worried, I
counsel them that they shouldn’t be worried, that they should trust God.”
While the material benefit is small, Sunday finds pleasure in prison
ministry. “In fact, prison ministry is a criteria for going to heaven,” he
declared, citing Jesus’ admonition: “?I was sick, and you visited me. I was in
prison, and you visited me.’”
The inmates “are citizens of this country, and they need to be taken care of
while in prison so that upon their release they can take their rightful place in
society.”
Pressing needs
According to Nimineh-Logan, the fellowship is in dire need of basic resources
as it attempts to provide health and welfare to the Monrovia Central Prison. The
prison — like much of the city since the end of the civil war in 2003 — needs
assistance with communications, electricity and water/sewage, as well as food
and toiletry items for both men and women.
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A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert
Many of the inmates at Monrovia Central Prison have been held for months without trial.
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| The
Monrovia Central Prison — like much of the rest of Liberia’s capital
city since the end of the civil war in 2003 — needs assistance with
communications, electricity and water/sewage, as well as food and
toiletry items for both men and women. The prison lacks adequate
ventilation, and the odor of unwashed bodies, illness and inadequate
sanitation permeates the buildings. A United Methodist helped start the
ecumenical Prison Fellowship of Liberia to minister to inmates there and
elsewhere. A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert. Photo #06-085.
Accompanies UMNS story #047. 1/25/06 |
One of the prison’s biggest needs is repair of the chapel. “This is the
Lord’s temple,” she said. The leaks and structural damage are “a disgrace to us
and to the house of God.”
Repairs to the chapel and numerous areas of the prison would lift spirits and
change lives, both Sunday and Nimineh-Logan say. They seek assistance from
churches in the United States to accomplish this task.
Sunday also would like to institute training programs for inmates.
“They steal,” he said of the inmates who could not find employment. “If they
are trained, then when they get out, they will be self-sufficient,” he said.
The Prison Fellowship, Nimineh-Logan said, seeks to be “our brother’s
keeper.”
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville,
Tenn.
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org
Video Story
Liberian Prison Ministry: Fellowship for the forgotten
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Resources
Prison Fellowship International
UMCOR: Liberia Emergency Response
Restorative Justice Theme Page
Board of Global Ministries
allAfrica.com: Liberia
Country Profile: Liberia
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