South Carolina inmates get baptized in a bid to turn their lives around: 'A way out of prison through the Lord'
Eighteen lives were changed at a South Carolina detention center over the weekend. Speaking to Fox News, Darlington County Sheriff Tony Chavis revealed that an initiative to mentor and baptize inmates had begun after a Stop the Violence meeting at the beginning of 2019.
Sheriff Chavis led the initiative by inviting ministers and mentors in the neighborhood "in an attempt to stop the return of these young men and women back into the system. So if we are able to touch one of these lives for Christ...that they know they don't have to stay in a life of crime...so they would have a way out of prison through the Lord."
"People care about them," he added. "I care about them. I care about their safety. I care about them beyond my walls here at the W. Glenn Campbell Detention Center."
While initially just 10 inmates were slated to be baptized on Sunday, the number quickly grew to 18. As of now, a total of nearly 30 men have been baptized in a short span of time with the help of mentoring veterans led by State Rep. Robert Williams.
"Jail doesn't have to be the end," the sheriff's office wrote on Facebook. "It can be the very beginning of the ultimate forever."
"Please continue to pray for the amazing happenings at the W. Glenn Campbell Detention Center," they concluded.
According to Chavis, the prison reform is designed to help inmates get jobs so they don't revert back to a life of crime after being released from jail. "We are very fortunate to have local ministers to come in and work with them," he said.
That said, several nearby residents applauded the unconventional move by the sheriff's office. "Wonderful, we all have a past...let's pray for their future," one person commented. "God bless those who are ministering. Every soul is valuable and precious," another wrote.