Utah Jehovah’s Witnesses take the Bible to the ‘largest gated community’: prison

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Locked up, depressed and searching for answers, Gary Triptow began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses sent to the Utah State Prison by his grandmother.

In time, the Good Book and these good visits helped turn him into a good man.

This newfound faith “gave me hope,” said Triptow, nearly three decades since his release from prison on burglary counts. “Without hope you are desperate. For the first time in my life I could see another way to deal with my problems.”

The prison system provides services for 16 religions, including Jehovah’s Witnesses. During the past few months, volunteer Witnesses have provided one-on-one Bible studies and group discussions for interested inmates.

When Triptow was able to connect with them in the 1990s, he found a way to push through his drug addiction by focusing on his faith.

He originally was supposed to serve seven years but won parole six months early due to how Bible study had changed his behavior, he said. He joined a West Jordan congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and completed his parole on time after three years.

He continues to attend Bible study there.

If his grandma hadn’t set up that first meeting, Triptow doubts he would have made it out of prison.

“I would still be there,” he said. “Or be dead.”

‘Even Jesus witnessed with a criminal next to him’

Patrick Tertulien, prison ministry coordinator, moved to Utah last March from Elko, Nev. He believes this kind of service is essential to his role as a church elder and sees it as an avenue to become more Christlike.

“I’m not doing anything new,” he said. “Even Jesus witnessed with a criminal next to him. I’m just trying to follow in the footsteps of our King.”

In the beginning, Tertulien saw about 10 inmates. Now, he serves about 80 a week. The requests have risen to the point that Tertulien has had to recruit more help from his local congregation. The five-person operation has grown into a program with 114 trained volunteers offering witnessing services.

A prisoner Tertulien had never seen before recently started showing up at his Bible study after he had watched one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ videos. He’s been there for the past month now.

Tertulian values providing a spiritual link for inmates who might otherwise feel disconnected — from the world and from their faith.

“They’re perhaps at the lowest point of their life,” he said. “And when you see the light turn on in their eyes, when you begin to see the changes that they make in their lives, there’s no better feeling.”

Even so, barriers prevent him from providing a fully fledged ministry at the prison. An inmate housed in one section, for instance, can’t cross over to another section for a Bible study. That prevents hosting large group discussions and ceremonies.

But such setbacks aren’t unfamiliar to the church. The outreach to the Utah prison system is part of nationwide effort from the Jehovah’s Witnesses to connect with its incarcerated followers.

The program has been in its pilot stages in several states during the past three years. Congregations in Florida, New York and California have been reaching out to the prison systems to provide Bible studies and sessions with volunteer ministers, according to Robert Hendriks, U.S. spokesperson for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“The amount of work going into it is incredible,” Hendriks said. “But it’s taking time to formulate these groups around the country so we can do it in a more formalized fashion.”

Hundreds of members are behind bars for their beliefs

The plan is to have congregations — typically made up of 125 people — look at whether a prison is in their geographic area, and then form a set of volunteers to ensure the demand for services is met. As with Tertulien’s ministry, Hendriks said, these volunteers would receive training on ministering to inmates.

Providing this kind of support is important to Jehovah’s Witnesses, especially given how many members have been incarcerated in the past and in the present, Hendriks said. Currently, nearly 200 members abroad — most of them in Russia, are in prison simply for worshipping as a Jehovah’s Witness.

When it comes to prisons, Hendriks said, the church is determined to lift up inmates.

“There are many right-hearted people — in fact, we would not even necessarily call them criminals,” he said. “They may be unjustly tried or perhaps at this point in their life they’ve long ago put their past behind them.”

Hendriks said he and fellow church officials call the prison system the “largest gated community in the world.” He believes inmates too often go overlooked not just by individuals but also by larger religious organizations. Jehovah’s Witnesses hope to keep expanding its ministering programs to all the states with congregations.

“We can consider it a community service,” Hendriks said, “to be able to do this work.”