Department of Corrections to train inmates to be ministers
The Missouri Department of Corrections and a university are partnering up to provide college-level classes designed to train murderers, rapists and other long-term inmates to be ministers.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Corrections Director Anne Precythe is pushing for the program with Hannibal-LaGrange University to begin in December at the maximum-security Jefferson City Correctional Center.
The program will only be available at male facilities at first, but the agency is considering expansion to women’s prisons.
Corrections Department spokeswoman Karen Pojmann says the university is funding the program through fundraising.
A majority of participants will likely be inmates who are active in social situations in the prison, have a low rate of conduct violations and are serving long sentences.
The program will offer a bachelor’s degree that focuses on counseling and theology.
