Inmates turn welding shop into chapel in Breaux Bridge

Breaux Bridge — The old welding shop and cavernous utility shed was about to be torn down as a blight on a property that wasn’t too pretty to begin with — the cold concrete inside razor wire of the St. Martin Sheriff’s Office Substation on Mills Highway here.

Some of the inmates asked for a reprieve. Given a chance, they would turn the shabby metal structure into the house of God. And that’s what they did.

Sheriff Ronny Theriot and his chaplain, the Rev. Bob Woods, both insist the prisoners’ chapel at the substation jail was the inmates’ project. All they did was get out of the way.

“The inmates themselves took the lead,” says Theriot. “They used their own monies, whether it be from family putting money in their account, the sale of scrap aluminum from Coke cans, and whatnot. And they used the monies to refurbish an area of the facility that was really in deplorable condition. They they put their sweat, love, tears, dedication and commitment and turned it into a beautiful little chapel and church.”

Larry Phillips, the inmate-pastor of the church, says he often sees the hard shell of a lifelong criminal cracked by the Word of God as related by men, like himself, who have been there and done that.

I was a major drug dealer on this street,” says Phillips, who was given a total of 50 years in federal prison before qualifying for a reduced sentence.

“I’ve been locked up 10 years and one month and I’ve been saved for nine years, 11 months,” he says. “I was in a cell by myself with nowhere to go and I cried out to Jesus and since that day I haven’t been the same.”

His testimony and that of others who have been “born again” is especially powerful in view of where they have been, Phillips says.

“A lot of these guys know me from when I was on the streets and they know what I was doing and when they see me living for God, it’s enough evidence for them,” Phillips says.

“They got some who come and they’ve got a hard shell — but like an egg, you can crack the shell. There’s not too many places they’ve been that some of us who are in the church, who are children of God, haven’t been. You know, He said, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.” So we all been through things and we just let them know if you try it on your own to get out of it, you’ll never get out. But with Jesus, he’s the way the truth and the light.”

Woods, a former bar owner and outlaw biker (he still rides but not with the one-percenters), been called to a prison ministry for nearly three decades now. Since the election of a new sheriff who doesn’t mask his religiosity,

Woods has been on board as chaplain to the parish jails.

“The sheriff is a Godly man, he’s a born-again Christian,” Woods says. “He wants to rehabilitate rather than just be a gatekeeper. He wants to see these people back with their families, productive in society. The Bible says we’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We’re trying to turn it around one heart at a time.”

Based on attendance in the church and its impact on the jail as a whole, the project is working, Theriot says.

“Nobody forces anyone to do anything,” he says. “They come of their own free will and accord. It doesn’t take away from the points they earn if they don’t come because we can’t do that and we shouldn’t do that. But when they come and worship together, what we have found as they have in many other prison ministries through out the United States is that it reduces the amount of incidents within a penal institution. So we find it is not only beneficial to the inmates themselves but it’s a benefit to us as corrections officers.”

Anybody in the community can help by contributing money, equipment or supplies. Contact the warden, Maj. Reginald Clues, at 332-2131.