Karl is a more difficult story. He has lots of tattoos, and I would characterize him as nervous or intense. The 46-year-old, who has been incarcerated 25 years, grew up in California in a very poor family, who all had to sleep in the same bed. When he was eight, his mother became a Christian, and things got better at home. At 10, he was told by a pastor that he was destined to preach. All this got off track when the beatings began, by an uncle, and by 13 he was in a gang. For him, being a “gangbanger” put him at the top of the food chain. He had a short-lived marriage and fathered a daughter, and he was troubled. “I was mad at God. I always believed in Him, but I had a deep animosity about God.” In prison, he spent many years in administrative segregation (Seg). “One day I was walking down the sidewalk, going to chow. The Chaplain saw me and asked me to come to a retreat in the gym. No one had ever taken an interest in me before.” The Kolby retreat volunteers got him involved, and he was mentored by a Field Minister once a week, which led him in a different direction. “That’s why I stepped down from the gang. I had a difficult nickname, ‘Bloodshot.’ That’s who I’d been, and I didn’t know who I was going to be after that. I had a reputation. The retreat was full of gangbangers, and they supported my leaving the gang and being a different person.” Karl was coming up for eligibility for parole on one of his sentences and had to see the parole commission. “I had never prayed before; I asked God to get me parole.” He admitted that he hadn’t accomplished anything in prison—trades, education, and he was still gang-identified, but he got parole anyway. He attributed this to his transformation. “We have a section on Building 8 called the Life Changing Section I’m in.” Now Karl facilitates a class called The Missing Ingredient. “The anger and hatred I had to God is gone. I understood that God had called me to change. This is pretty deep stuff.”
Heart of Texas Magazine
Spiritual Renewal in the John B. Connally Unit: An Unlikely Awakening
“Slow-Cooker” got his nickname when someone asked him if the beans he was cooking were ready. He replied that “you’ve got to cook beans slow,” and this is one of the names he is known by. He is about 30 years old, slender, handsome, fit, and looks like he could be on a Marine recruiting poster. He has been locked up 14 years. Another name he goes by is Taqwa, as he is a Muslim. He was first attracted to the faith by the colorful prayer rugs, and when he obtained one, he decided to take the faith seriously. He goes to programs offered by all the faith groups; he is focused on improving himself, and desires to learn other perspectives. He has attended the (Catholic) Kolbe Prison Ministries Retreat and the Kairos Retreat, and he notes that “almost every class I’m in is volunteer-led.” I heard him tell someone that “it was in Prayer & Share that I learned that I was a jerk!” As a long-time participant in the Connally Interfaith Community, he now presents at their annual retreat. Taqwa laughs a lot and is bright, positive, joyful, full of energy, and focused on peacefulness.
