Against a backdrop of "Amen!"s and clapping hands, and a three-piece band playing an upbeat number, the 12-member choir starts in, shaking tambourines and swaying back and forth as they sing: "Jesus/ Mighty God/ Mighty God in heaven/ Every moment let's call out your name/ I will worship you all my life ..."
The 90-minute service that follows is much the same as you might find in any charismatic congregation. There's some preaching, some singing, quite a bit of testifying about the wondrous acts God has performed in the lives of the 160 attendees -- all of whom are male, most of whom are black. There are a few bored stares, but there are just as many men clapping, singing along, pounding their chests and waving their worn Bibles in the air.
But this is no middle-class, suburban church with parents bringing their kids to learn the Ten Commandments, sing hymns and kill time before the football game begins. This is a prison run by the state of Florida.
The revival hall is the gymnasium of the Lawtey Correctional Institute, a medium-security prison halfway between Gainesville and Jacksonville. In Decem-ber, Gov. Jeb Bush dedicated Lawtey as the first "faith-based," government-run prison in the country. "I can't think of a better place to reflect on the love of our Lord Jesus than to be here at Lawtey Correctional," Bush, a devout Catholic, told the inmates. Bush added that he and his brother, President George W. Bush, agree that the best way to rehabilitate prisoners is to "lead them to God."
http://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/story.asp?ID=4280
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