What's Going On In There?: A Jail Chaplain's Story

WHAT IS THE CULTURE OF A JAIL? What are the relationships between correctional staff and the inmates? How do teachers, clergy, counselors, and volunteers fit into the picture? Besides Sunday worship, what does a progressive chaplain do in a jail with its rapid turnover of inmates? What are their nationalities and races, their status in society, their sadness, hopes, fears, and faith, and their trials in court, successful and otherwise? What should be a chaplain's responsibility to the larger community? This book spans Rev. Tetherly's thirty years of chaplaincy, beginning at the 104-year-old Hampden County Jail and House of Correction in Springfield, Massachusetts, the "Big House" through the transition into the ultra-modern Hampden Correctional Center "village" in Ludlow. The mission doesn't change: A facility to house men and women awaiting trial or serving sentences of up to two- and-a-half years. But the culture outside brings changes inside the jail. Whether you've never been in jail, or you have spoken to an inmate on the phone, visited an inmate, or been a volunteer, this book will show you things you didn't expect.