LOCAL HERO: Faith, precautions help prisoners battle COVID

CHARLESTON, Mo. — The Bible on Steven A. Johnson’s desk readily flips open to a special text.

“Casting all your care upon Him because He careth for you.” - 1 Peter 5:7.

It is a verse that brings him comfort. As chaplain for the Southeast Correctional Center, he also uses it to bring comfort to the inmates, especially during the trying times brought on by the coronavirus.

“It tells me I can cast my worries on the Lord,” he said. “That is comforting to the offenders, too. Sometimes they may not have relationships with their families but they know they can look to the Lord and know he cares.”

Johnson, a resident of East Prairie, Mo., has served as chaplain for the state prison at Charleston for the past 14 years. However, his service began three years before that assisting his father who started a prison ministry shortly after the correctional center opened.

As chaplain, Johnson helps provide many faith-based programs for offenders. He offers chapel services for 10 different religious groups which regularly meet at the prison and works to ensure inmates who follow beliefs outside of those 10 groups have the opportunity for solitary services.

In addition, Johnson along with the institution activities coordinator oversee approximately 50 prison volunteers including Southeast Missouri State University professors, area pastors and members of the public.

Then COVID-19 arrived in Southeast Missouri.

“It really hit us in April,” Johnson said. “Fortunately we already had some protocols in place.”

Among the first protocols imposed was that all outside programming was stopped. Visitors were no longer allowed inside the prison.

The number of inmates who could attend services together was limited. Also gatherings were restricted to those in the same housing units.

Like so many other churches, Johnson said virtual services were offered. A television channel was designated for chapel use, offering weekly broadcasts of services and DVD programs of various ministries.

“We were not able to do what we normally do so we had to come up with different ways,” he said. “I also began doing a lot more one on one with the guys.”

Within the prison walls just like outside, additional precautions were taken. Prisoners and staff work to maintain social distancing and masks are worn in certain areas.

Initially Johnson said the inmates expressed concerns about how the virus would impact their lives.

“They watch the news. They are informed. But in some ways they were perhaps more calm than the general public,” Johnson explained.

He acknowledged there were some frustrations over the changes as well.

“But we sought to be honest with them. They knew we are doing what we could. It was not just for our protection but for the protection of their families as well,” he said.

While there have been outbreaks of the virus at the prison, Johnson said he believes efforts by the staff have worked well. According to the Mississippi County Health Department, as of Dec. 1, there were a total of 177 cases recorded at the facility, which currently houses approximately 1,200 inmates and employs 400.

But the past several months have not been easy for anyone — not the staff, not the prisoners and not their families.

Johnson said he receives phone calls from concerned wives, mothers and grandmothers.

“We try to reassure them that we are doing what we can. If we can reassure them, that is the key,” he said.

The most difficult times are when staff must inform an inmate about a critical illness or the death of a loved one.

The staff will also advise Johnson and the mental health staff who make themselves available to the inmate if he wants to talk. Also they will work to assist the prisoner to telephone his family. Johnson said he encourages the inmate to be open and to pray.

Technology has helped.

Johnson recalled when an inmate’s wife died of COVID recently, the family taped the funeral service and sent him a DVD. The inmate was able to watch the service at the prison’s chapel.

“That allowed him some closure,” Johnson said.

Despite the pandemic and its restrictions, Johnson said the SECC staff has sought to maintain as many activities as possible.

But one very important holiday activity will not take place — visits from families. Johnson said instead he and staff members are providing prisoners with cards and encouraging them to maintain connection this way with their families.

“We also try to reach out to them and let them know we are here. We care,” he said. “They appreciate that.”

Johnson is equally appreciative of his co-workers.

“It has been amazing to see how they have rallied together due to the difficulty of the quarantine,” said Johnson. “And it starts at the top from the warden down. You will come in and see them working in food service as well as other areas of the prison. Everybody is going over, above and beyond to see the facility works as it is suppose to.”

Although a pastor for a local Baptist church, Johnson said when he first walked into the correctional facility, he knew it was where he was meant to be.

“I like what I do. I feel like it is a calling,” he said. “I have developed a heart for this type of ministry. It is a blessing to be chaplain here.”

Now there is a third generation of the Johnson family responding to the call. When the restrictions lift, Johnson’s son intends to continue his volunteer work with revivals and other activities at the prison.

Johnson’s message for the public is the same one he brings to his parishioners and the prisoners at the Southeast Correctional Center.

“We are all in this together and we will get through this,” he said. “That is the key. Be patient. We will get through this together and I think we will come through it as better people.”