"Program Manager"

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My job description at IFI was to “manage the program” hence my title, “Program Manager.”

There was a lot to manage.

Unit “E” had 242 beds.  Those beds were going to be filled.  So we had a variety of inmates at different parts of their sentences and different places in the program.

Each “Class” was numbered (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) and the program was designed to last 18-months in prison.  There were 4, 3-month quarters in Phase I (the first year.) There was a 6-month Phase II.  Finally there were Phases III & IV when an inmate was released from the Penitentiary into AfterCare.

The IFI program was modeled after a faith-based prison in Brazil. Our program in Iowa was modeled after the first US IFI program in Texas.

Initially, a counselor would be assigned to a class for their entire IFI curriculum (18-months.) That presented some obvious concerns. If Sam Dye was your counselor, then you would have 18-months of insightful teaching and programming.  If Mickey was your counselor for 18-months, you were in for 18-months of psychosis.

The 30 days prior to the start of the 18-month marathon, the class would go through “Orientation.”  They would learn about the aspects of the program.  The counselor would meet with them, answer any questions they may have, and eventually determine if they were in a place to be successful in the program.

During orientation each member of the up-coming class would present their “Life Story” that is, they would visually represent their life on a giant piece of news paper and chronicle their journey from birth to their current incarceration.  (I will write an entire Blog about “Life Stories” at a later date.)

There were also men waiting in the unit to get into orientation.  And, there were men finished with the curriculum portion, but they were not ready for work-release or parole.

We had some very short-term men (6 to 12 months) and some very long-term men (Lifers.)  We had 18-year-old 1^st time offenders and

There were several hundred volunteers in our data-base with 10-20 coming in to teach evening curriculum each night.

We also had Friday night “Revival Service” with different churches (and when I say “different” I mean in every way possible) coming to the Gym every Friday night.

There was a plethora of denominational and theological backgrounds represented in the volunteer base, and for the most part, people would lay down their “distinctives” and focus on Jesus.

It was during this time that the name and person of Jesus began to far-outshine any of my theology, pet beliefs, or prejudices.

It was an overwhelming task, and it needed over-haul.

It made for an exhausting first year.

chris