Associated Press
TROY, Missouri — It’s hardly typical church choir attire — leg irons, orange or black-and-white uniforms. And the singing isn’t always pitch-perfect; notes are missed and lyrics forgotten.
The congregants don’t mind. The choir, made up of inmates from an eastern Missouri jail, recently received a standing ovation.
Capt. David Curtis runs the Lincoln County Jail, about 60 miles north of St. Louis. Since taking over the job in January, Curtis has started several programs aimed at giving inmates direction in their life, including an inmate-operated garden, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Now he’s started a choir, dubbed the Second Chance Choir, and takes it to local churches. On Sunday at Calvary Chapel in Troy, the 12-man choir sang “How Great Thou Art” and “Amazing Grace” at both services.
“In their hearts, they’re the (Mormon) Tabernacle Choir,” Curtis said.
The idea was hatched in September while a group of inmates was washing and waxing patrol cars.
“One of the deputies was commenting on all of the things I was having the guys do, and he said you might as well have a choir,” Curtis said. “He was being sarcastic, but I looked at a couple of my inmates, and I said ‘I think it sounds like a pretty good idea. Does anybody know how to sing?’ And they said, ‘No, but we’ll try.’”
That night, the inmates met in a rec room to learn some Christmas carols and hymns.
Curtis said he could immediately see a change in the men. An inmate with an approaching court date was nervous about it, and the others offered support instead of ridicule. Once, when an inmate was upset about something negative said about the choir, Curtis said not to worry about it — they were his boys.
“He almost broke down in tears,” Curtis said. “He said it was the first time he’d ever had a positive male figure in his life. I don’t think anyone ever told this guy that he was loved.”
Curtis admits he can be uneasy about taking inmates out of the jail, but he carefully screens choir members to make sure he has the right people.
“I know you can’t have a success story every time, but this choir’s been nothing but positive,” Curtis said. “Their morale, their behavior — some of the guys aren’t even taking medicines anymore.”
All of the choir members stay in one big pod at the jail, and the positivity is infectious. Last week, before the group’s first public appearance at Zion United Methodist Church in Truxton, the jail’s washing machine broke down. Some half-dozen other inmates volunteered to hand-wash uniforms so the choir looked clean.
At Calvary Chapel, member Scott Pratt followed the singing with a testimonial.
“Seeing these men so damaged, so hurt by life, open their hearts to share their pain and to receive the grace of God is what church is all about,” church member Pat Kerley said.
Inmate Jason Russell said he was grateful for the program.
“I hope when people hear us they no longer look at us as inmates, they see us as men,” he said.