A man who served two prison sentences before becoming a pastor and mayor said a faith-based prison ministry helped transform his life and break his family's cycle of crime and incarceration.
Jermaine Wilson became involved with drugs at an early age while growing up in a home marked by addiction and incarceration. His father struggled with drug addiction and spent time behind bars. Wilson was first sent to prison at 15 for robbery.
Searching for acceptance and purpose, Wilson later became involved in gang activity and was sentenced to prison again at 19 for drug dealing.
As a new father sitting alone in a maximum-security prison cell in Leavenworth County, Kansas, Wilson said he realized he was on track to pass his family's cycle of incarceration onto his 8-month-old son.
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"My father had been to prison, my brother was in prison, my sister was in jail. I knew if I didn't change my life, my son was going to end up going to prison," Wilson told Fox News Digital. "And so, I wanted to break that cycle of crime and incarceration. And that's when I cried out to God and said, 'God, I need help.'"
Wilson said he was soon introduced to Prison Fellowship, a Christian prison ministry founded by late Watergate figure Chuck Colson after his own incarceration.
After enrolling in the yearlong Prison Fellowship Academy program, Wilson said he began to unlearn destructive patterns of thinking while developing values such as accountability, responsibility, integrity and community.
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Through relationships built with other men in the program, Wilson said he found the support system he needed to become a better man and father. A few months later, he gave his life to Christ.
"It was the accountability piece that really helped me and shaped me and motivated me to be the man that I am today," Wilson said. "But ultimately it's because I surrendered and gave my life to Christ. That's when the transformation started to take place, not just in my mind but also inside of my heart as well."
In 2009, Wilson graduated from the academy and transferred to a minimum-security facility, where he continued attending Bible studies, meeting with counselors and mentoring other inmates.
Wilson said Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree program also helped reconnect him with his family while he was incarcerated.
The ministry allows incarcerated parents to provide Christmas gifts to their children through local churches. Wilson said his son received a gift and handwritten note from him during his first Christmas in prison, which helped restore communication with his then-longtime girlfriend, Jessica, and their son.
"The church did more than just deliver a present," Wilson said. "The presence of God showed up through that gift."
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Wilson said Jessica later became a Christian after seeing the changes in his life and character while he was incarcerated. The couple eventually married after his release from prison.
Following his release, Wilson became a community leader, ordained pastor and two-time mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas. He now serves as a mission ambassador for Prison Fellowship.
Wilson's story comes as Prison Fellowship marks its 50th anniversary and celebrates a major milestone for its prison ministry work.
The organization recently became the first nonprofit to receive an evidence-based recidivism reduction designation from the Federal Bureau of Prisons for its Prison Fellowship Academy program.
Heather Rice-Minus, the president and CEO of Prison Fellowship told Fox News Digital that a Texas Department of Criminal Justice study found inmates enrolled in the Prison Fellowship Academy had a recidivism rate of less than 6%. The study also found academy graduates were more than 50% less likely to return to prison than comparable inmates with similar criminal histories who did not complete the program.
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"We really know that the program is making that kind of impact based on the evidence," Rice-Minus said.
The designation stems from provisions included in the bipartisan First Step Act, signed during President Donald Trump's first term, which expanded rehabilitative programming opportunities within the federal prison system.
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She said the designation will allow the ministry to expand programming within the federal prison system. The designation also allows eligible inmates who complete the program to earn time credits that help them transition earlier into community supervision.
Prison Fellowship plans to open an academy in a federal prison in El Reno, Oklahoma, next month.
Beyond the program's expansion and documented outcomes, Rice-Minus said the ministry remains rooted in biblical principles and a belief in redemption.
"For people of faith, especially if you're a Christian, you have received a second chance from Christ," Rice-Minus said.
Wilson told Fox News Digital that he shares his story to demonstrate how "no life is beyond God's reach."
"We all have made mistakes, and we are all made in the image of God," he said. "And we all walk around with scars and each one of our scars tells a story. Your scars can reflect strength or shame."
"The world would define you by your past, but God redefines you by His purpose," he added.
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