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God’s Grace Behind Bars

God’s Grace Behind Bars

Last updated on: May 12, 2026 at 2:32 pm by Father Pablo Migone

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God’s Grace Behind Bars 2026-05-12T14:32:01-05:00 Father Pablo Migone

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I often consider that the most forgotten members of society are the incarcerated. This is likely because many do not consider them part of society anymore – they have been confined to oblivion to pay for their crimes. The truth however is that the incarcerated, even those who have committed heinous crimes, are very much part of society. Their crimes do not diminish or erase their human dignity. If there is a place where the Church needs to preach the Good News of the Gospel without faltering, it is within the prison system. This demand placed on the Church is one of the few specific commands Jesus gave his disciples, “when I was imprisoned, you visited me.” To forget or to willingly disregard the human dignity of prisoners is to disobey the Gospel. It is a failure to recognize the presence of Jesus in the midst of other toil.

Many are familiar with the tension between Inspector Javert and Jean Valjean in the French novel turned into a musical Les Misérables. The inspector sees things in black and white – those who have done wrong must be punished accordingly. He proclaims with great conviction in the musical, “so it is written on the doorway to paradise that those who falter and those who fall must pay the price.” There is no room for mercy and redemption. In contrast to the inspector’s understanding of the Christian faith, is the old Monsignor who welcomes the fugitive Jean Valjean into his home. When Valjean is caught by the police for stealing silver from the Monsignor’s home, the priest does not contradict Valjean’s account that the silver ornaments had been a gift from the elderly pastor. The priest even comments as he gives the fugitive more silver, “my friend you left early surely something slipped your mind. You forgot I gave these also.” The Monsignor teaches Valjean a lasting lesson, “you must use this precious silver to become an honest man. By the witness of the martyrs, by the passion and the blood, God has raised you out of darkness, I have bought your soul for God!”

The author of Les Misérables, Victor Hugo, offers an effective critique of society’s attitude toward the incarcerated. Most take the attitude of Inspector Javert and harshly condemn those who have shown moral failure. The Monsignor’s response to the fugitive who stole a loaf of bread to feed his hungry family better expresses the way of the Gospel. Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, repent and believe. Redemption is always at hand. Jesus always gives the faithful a second chance to be transformed. For this reason, it is crucial and urgent that the Gospel be preached to those in prison. In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul rightly argues, how can someone come to believe in Jesus if they have not heard the Gospel, and how can the Gospel be heard, if someone has not been sent to preach it? (see Romans 10, 14). Men and women of goodwill are invited to enter the prisons to preach the Gospel through word and example. The incarcerated are not monsters to be tamed or punished, they are souls worthy to be transformed by the grace of God while they complete their sentences.

Newly ordained, I drove to Dooly State Prison monthly with Deacon Jim Hunt to hear confessions and celebrate Mass for about ten inmates. They all went to confession before Mass, and after communion, they knelt piously, with their hands folded and resting on top of the chairs provided. I recall telling them once, “here in prison, you are more faithful to your Catholic faith by coming to Confession and Mass monthly than the vast majority of Catholics out there!”

Last year, I baptized a young man at Coastal State Prison in Savannah over the broken water fountain of the room where we gather for Mass. He prepared for quite some time with the Deacon who visits weekly, I only go monthly for Mass and Confessions. The young man gave me a handwritten letter as I left. It was such a heartfelt letter, expressing tremendous gratitude and detailing his journey to the Catholic Church. He wrote about the consolation he felt from Jesus during such a dark moment in his life; he was now a new man in Christ, and he was not looking back.

No crime can erase the image of God imprinted on the human soul. Behind prison walls are not lost causes, but men and women still sought out by Christ, still capable of conversion and worthy of mercy. The Gospel is manifested in prison quietly but powerfully wherever hearts remain open to God’s infinite goodness. In bringing Christ to the incarcerated, we come to recognize something deeper: that we, too, stand in need of mercy, and that no one is beyond the reach of God’s redeeming love. There is no difference between the inmates and me, we are all beggars at the throne of God’s grace.

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