NO PROJECT
WITHOUT FIRE

FREE INMATE is run entirely by volunteers. As always, there are some visionaries who have laid the foundation for the project.

Toft

Founder and former inmate

The time in prison was on the one hand both heavy and dark, but on the other hand it was very meaningful. While serving my prison sentence, I “quickly” found out that the majority of my fellow inmates were going through exactly the same things as I was. I also saw the high price their relatives, just like my relatives, had to pay, completely through no fault of their own.

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CHRISTEL KIRK BRUBACHER

Co-founder and leader of the PrisonAlpha team

For me, FREE INMATE is a many year-long dream that is coming true. When I see the longing of many inmates to succeed with a new start after release… When I see that longing replaced by shame, hardship and abandonment after their release, I find it difficult to be myself. Because no one deserves to feel alone. Not even former inmates.

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KARSTEN BACH

Co-founder and Staff Leader in Karlslunde Strandkirke (church)

I have good friends who have experienced being in prison. I have understood from them how difficult and lonely it is, and have gained an insight into how it effects their self-confidence, dignity and personality.

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ANDERS MICHAEL HANSEN

Spiritual guide and parish priest

The work of FREE INMATES hits on something absolutely crucial and essential. Jesus’ program statement, when he appeared in public, read: “He (God the Father) has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives … to set the oppressed  at liberty …” (Luke’s Gospel, chapter 4 – verse 18 ).

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THOMAS

FREE INMATE disciple and former inmate

Once you’ve been inside, everything is associated with shame, and that makes it almost impossible to turn your life around by yourself. But when you share the journey with others about it, you reach further, faster. And when you see others who know what the happy life is, you gain faith that you can get back onto the right track. So being forgiven, together with the community in the church have been decisive in my moving on.

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SØREN LANDER

Responsible for hymns/praise/music and active in PrisonAlpha

I would like to help give ex-prisoners hope for a good future and contribute to a restoration in their lives. And the peace and joy that I myself have been allowed to experience, I would like them to have the opportunity to experience.

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PROJECT CONSULTANT

STANISLAW CINAL

Head of Alpha in Eastern Europe

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Toft

Founder and former inductee

The time in prison was on the one hand both heavy and dark, but on the other hand it was very meaningful.

While serving my prison sentence, I “quickly” found out that the majority of my fellow inmates were going through exactly the same things as I was. I also saw the high price their relatives, just like my relatives, had to pay, completely through no fault of their own.

I could both see and feel how much longing there was in the inmates to find hope and meaning for their lives and their future. And I saw that one of the big differences between them and me was that I found a community within the walls – in Prison Alpha.

The fact that I repented and the fact that GOD chose to forgive me and give me light and hope for a better life and a future with meaning made all the difference for me, so that today I live a life for which I am happy and grateful.

The call to Free Inmate came to me while I was inside. A call to give former inmates and their relatives the opportunity to have a new, good life, a strong community and a healthy future. That is why today the church is my “clubhouse”.

Just as the law can change a society, Jesus can change a man.

CHRISTEL KIRK BRUBACHER

Co-founder and leader of the PrisonAlpha team

For me, FREE INMATE is a many year-long dream that is coming true. When I see the longing of many inmates to succeed with a new start after release… When I see that longing replaced by shame, hardship and abandonment after their release, I find it difficult to be myself. Because no one deserves to feel alone. Not even former inmates.
And yes. They themselves have a responsibility for their lives. That is obvious. But if we can help, inspire and encourage them so that they have a greater chance of success – why not do it? We would never leave traffic victims on the road to fend for themselves. Not even when they themselves are to blame for the traffic accident. We help them. As individuals. And as a society.
We must extend the same outstretched hand to former inmates. It requires a confrontation with the stigma surrounding having been in prison. And that is best done by helping former inmates succeed. Jesus would have done that. And this is where FREE INMATE can make a big difference.
I want to do what it takes to help former inmates succeed. And if I can bring as many as possible with me into heaven at the same time… then it makes double sense.

KARSTEN BACH

Co-founder and Staff Leader in Karlslunde Strandkirke (church)

I have good friends who have experienced being in prison. I have understood from them how difficult and lonely it is, and have gained an insight into how it effects their self-confidence, dignity and personality.
Here, the work with PrisonAlpha has had great significance for several people, who have aquired new content into their lives through meeting with caring people who chose to invest time and resources in creating lasting relationships and friendships. Through on going visits, conversations about the content of life, the value of man and God's love, the individual finds his worth as a human being and gets a new experience of being able to move forward.
My experience with Alpha, in our local church, is that it is crucial to follow up with them. This applies not least to former inmates, who not only on a spiritual, but also on a practical level need companionship and help to move on in life – into a well functioning everyday life.
That is why I can’t resist getting involved in FREE INMATE. I hope it will bear fruit for the joy of many former inmates and their relatives.

ANDERS MICHAEL HANSEN

Spiritual guide and parish priest

The work of FREE INMATES hits on something absolutely crucial and essential. Jesus’ program statement, when he appeared in public, read: “He (God the Father) has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives … to set the oppressed at liberty …” (Luke’s Gospel, chapter 4 – verse 18 ).

In the borderland of human life and existence, we discover the light and power of the gospel in a very special way. When those who have ended up completely outside the good life and face society’s punishment, discover that they – by virtue of God’s strong grace – actually have a way to experience real freedom, and then testify about it… it rubs off on the rest of us.

Personally, I need to listen to prisoners’ own stories to understand how life on the other side of the law can be exchanged for a new life. In particular, I need to know ways to help and support former inmates to move on, return to life and become part of the community. Because it could have been me, who, under other conditions and circumstances, would have ended up in their shoes.

It is therefore about seeing oneself in the other and loving the other as oneself. It is charity in practice. And that’s why I support FREE INMATE.

Thomas

FREE INMATE disciple and former inmate

Once you’ve been inside, everything is associated with shame, and that makes it almost impossible to turn your life around by yourself. But when you share the journey with others about it, you reach further, faster. And when you see others who know what the happy life is, you gain faith that you can get back ontothe right track. So being forgiven, together with the community in the church have been decisive in my moving on.

In my darkness I could not grasp what love and forgiveness are. But in the community I could feel the charity, the embrace, the spaciousness and the forgiveness. And when Ifelt loved and forgiven, it was easier to see through the dark cloud hanging over my head. There I could feel that God’s love is real.It gave me a feeling that there is hope for a happy life – despite what came before.

Before, I equated “me” with the things I did wrong. Without a father role model, I had no boundaries, rules or laws. Today, my sin is only a part of me, and through the fellowship I have been introduced to a clean, loving life with boundaries, rules and laws, and I have learned that “consequences” are also something positive.

Now I feel the love. And understand it. It makes me grow as a person. It has freed me, so that today I can take responsibility for my life and, for example, today I can tell my mother that I love her, even though she never got to say it to me in my childhood. Therefore, community is a decisive factor for me.

SØREN LANDER

Responsible for hymns/praise/music and active in PrisonAlpha

I would like to help give ex-prisoners hope for a good future and contribute to a restoration in their lives. And the peace and joy that I myself have been allowed to experience, I would like them to have the opportunity to experience.

As in my own life, guilt and shame fills the lives of many ex-prisoners. Therefore, a pair of human eyes to look into is the absolutely most important thing I can give ex-prisoners. Loving eyes that do not condemn are the only cure for shame.

Music has been a strong contributor tochanging the direction of my life. So I’m involved in FREE INMATE because I’m convinced that music can do something that conversations alone might not be able to do. Through music you can tell a story that one might take in much more easily.

The world-renowned author C.S. Lewis spoke of “stealing” his way “past the watchful dragons” who have their defenses up and won’t listen (steal by the watchfull dragons). He did this by using the fairy tale, Narnia, to convey his story and his message. Throughout the adventure, people lowered their defences so he could more easily share some deeper truths. In this way, singing and music can also be very special goals, because they can open up emotions in a different way than the spoken word can.