POC Prison Ministry

Chrissy started the outreaches to various jails within days of her arrival in the Philippines in 1983 and has continued this aspect of the ministry to this day. Chrissy regularly visited the local jails to preach and teach and disciple inmates and also travelled around the Philippines evangelising the jails and prisons. As POC grew, the jail ministry became more concentrated within Chrissy's locality. Iba, Subic, 164.

Iba
The opening at Iba came about when Chrissy helped a team of Bible school students to establish an outreach. Unfortunately, the students lost interest; and Chrissy and Redemia found themselves going on their own. Since then, Iba has become a focus of the POC jail / prison ministry.

Although Iba Jail was built to accommodate around 50 inmates, there were in excess of 140, causing severe overcrowding problems. Conditions were very poor - there were 2 small toilets, and 4 taps to be shared by all. There were no beds, they slept on re-cycled cardboard boxes or mats for the wealthier inmates. The Inmates have now been transfered to a new building, with beds, toilets and a yard for outdoor activities.

Many have been led to Christ over the years, and the inmates enthusiastically participate in the services - sharing testomonies and memory verses as well as preaching and singing.

San Fernando
During the erruption of Mt. Pinatubo, 164 jail and Subic were utterly destroyed. The inmates from both were transferred to various other jails. It was around that time that POC started ministering in San Fernando jail.

San Fernando suffered greatly from the aftermath of the erruption of Pinatubo. The inmates spent 6 months in 3 feet of stagnant water. The wealthier inmates paid the others to give them piggy-backs as the conditions caused terrible skin disease and other sicknesses.

The situation hindered the ministry in as much as outreach services could not be held. Instead the team continued with their visits in order to provide moral, prayer, and medical support.

San Fernando jail is very spacious - there is a courtyard for basketball and other recreation. This is where POC hold their services.

Again the ministry has seen many come to Christ as a result of these visits. 1 of those reached is the warden, who was an alcoholic and on his death bed when Christ saved and healed him. He now openly supports and attends POC services whenever possible. He has also been used to lead inmates to Christ.

Muntinlupa
In every town and city of The Philippines there are jails where inmates are detained on remand for anything up to 10 years. Upon receiving their sentence, the inmates are transferred to penal colonies - the main one being Muntinlupa. There can be anything between 17 000 and 22 000 inmates at one time spread between its minimum, medium, and maximum security facilities.

With the endeavour of visiting inmates transferred from Iba and San Fernando, Chrissy sought the help of "Mommie" Olga (a long-term missionary to Muntinlupa). She gave Chrissy the opportunity to go into the prison herself during the 80s. Having been made an RVO (Religious Volunteer Officer), Chrissy has the privilege of being able to take a team of up to 15 people on unlimited visits to prisons. Conditions here are similar to the other jails even though it is a much bigger complex (almost the size of a small town).

On their monthly visits, the POC ministry team go into the medium security prison and hold services in the drug rehabilitation building. From there the team has the privilege of being the only ministry team to enter solitary confinement (where on one visit all of the 17 detainees responded to the gospel). The team also takes time to fellowship with individuals, and help in small ways (such as providing toiletries and coffee; and posting mail).

The afternoons are spent on death row sharing with a group of inmates that have named themselves "Life Row Christian Fellowship". POC have been able to bring the hope of Christ into this otherwise hopeless situation, and has seen radical changes in the lives of many. The church members run things themselves - they have a powerful worship team and are assisted by prisoners from other cellblocks who have been through Bible school on the prison campus and have become ordained ministers.