Entering A Place of Fire

Abstract

Terms like “frightening” and “spiritually dark” fall short in describing many visitors’ impressions of Paraguay’s Tacumbú Penitentiary. Inmates simply refer to it as “hell.” The human rights abuses there are not merely statistics on a United Nations report – they are daily life for thousands of men: overcrowding, malnourishment, unsanitary conditions, over-extended sentences, and the constant threat of assault. According to a former warden, the main efforts in preventing a violent reaction to such circumstances as well as thwarting the consequences of the façade of correction occur inside the penitentiary’s Christian rehabilitation cell blocks, which are managed by chaplains and volunteers. This paper proposes that the primary motivations driving these ministry workers to endure the inhospitable prison environment fall under three categories used by Tewksbury and Dabney: helping inmates, visiting known inmates, and sharing religious beliefs. The paper also evaluates the effectiveness of these motivations for ministry in one of South America’s most dangerous prisons.