The Blair County Prison Re-entry Coalition has discovered a potential destination for some of the local inmates it has been gearing up over the past several years to serve: an eastern Pennsylvania-based Christian program that helps newly released prisoners return to the larger community.

Jubilee Ministries of Lebanon offers long-term, “Christ-centered” housing designed to help newly released men and women grow spiritually and socially, train for a career, become competent in managing finances and learn how to navigate in society, according to a brochure provided by Jon Freed, Jubilee’s chief mission officer, who spoke at the most recent coalition meeting.

Components of the phased program include Bible study; church attendance; eating well; exercise; transportation and “administrative” support; conflict resolution training; budgeting; setting goals; resume writing; getting a job; managing time; providing family support and reconciliation with the community, according to the brochure.

The program looks for potential participants who have “a good attitude and a teachable spirit — someone desiring a life change,” Freed told coalition members.

Applicants don’t need to be Christian, Freed said.

Some applicants might say, “I’m not sure how I am with the Jesus thing,” Freed said. “And that’s OK.”

Freed cited a passage from Revelation: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

Applicants need to be willing to learn and not to be disruptive, Freed said.

Sexually violent predators (Tier 3 sex offenders) are not eligible, according to Jo Harrell, women’s program manager.

Also ineligible are individuals on psychotropic medications, due the administrative and security issues such meds would create for the program, according to Harrell.

Individuals are in the program for nine to 12 months on average, Freed said.

It can take longer due to delays caused by medical problems and by disciplinary actions, according to program officials.

Such disciplinary setbacks can occur for violations like nicotine use, according to Harrell.

Participants are tested regularly for banned substances.

Use of illegal drugs or physical violence result in immediate dismissal.

Jubilee grew out of a 1972 youth revival at which young people were encouraged “to enter the prison and share what God had done in their lives,” according to the brochure.

The men’s aftercare program began in 1993, while the women’s program began two years ago.

There are currently 36 men and two women in their respective programs, Harrell said.

Jubilee has found that it’s easier to get the men to participate and cooperate.

Women are more likely to be ineligible due to medications and are more likely to resist due to having children or because they’re “rebellious,” Harrell said.

Women are more likely to want “to numb the pain and have the pills cover it up,” Harrell said. “They don’t want to get to a raw place and work through that,” she said.

The figure “they have a better plan” than taking “months or a year to get to the heart of things,” she said.

At that heart of things is often “a sin problem,” according to Harrell.

That may mean a sin committed against them or “a pride or a lust thing,” she said. The lust can be for drugs, in which drugs become “an idol,” she said.

Childhood trauma, sexual abuse, sex addiction and pornography can all be part of the mix, she said.

In declining to participate or in leaving the program, many women choose instead to let a boyfriend take them in, she said.

Jubilee contends that it’s better to take seven to 10 months to extirpate the issues than to spin in a vicious cycle for decades, Harrell said.

The Jubilee representatives came to the coalition meeting on an invitation that resulted from a chance meeting of a coalition member with Freed at a re-entry fair at a prison in the area.

“I’m impressed,” said temporary coalition Director Ken Dean, after the Jubilee presentation.

“I grasp at straws a lot sometimes,” Dean said. But Jubilee looks like a “substantial” option, he said.

The Jubilee program may be a good resource especially for inmates due to be released, but lacking a home plan, according to Christina Frantz, forensic case management and SteppingUp coordinator for Blair Health Choices and coalition member.

Dean doesn’t have a problem with the religious orientation of the program.

People in prison and on the street afterward often look for “something that gives them some kind of comfort” — and the program may provide that, Dean said.

But local inmates would need to be “willing to do what (the program) wants them to do,” and to “behave themselves and follow the rules,” Dean said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.