As I drive through town, I see a giant tree ablaze with lights. Wreaths swing from lampposts, and garlands climb storefronts. There are Christmas carols floating from a church tower and hovering over the city, but the music fades away as I enter the door of our county jail.

I approach the window at Central Control, and the officer in charge nods and presses a button that unlocks the first door for me. I enter, sign the volunteer book, and follow two female officers through doors that click open and clang shut. Now I am locked inside with 15 women who are dressed in stripes.

We are scarcely a city block away from the sights and sounds of Christmas, but my friends in stripes cannot see the lights or hear the carols. Most of them have been mentally blinded and made deaf by their addiction to meth or spice, prescription drugs, alcohol, or a host of substances that give temporary relief from reality.

The women you will find here are much like your next-door neighbor or your daughter or granddaughter. Those I’ve come to know never planned to become addicts or law-breakers and never expected to be locked in jail while someone else is raising their children.

It seems a terrible thing to spend Christmas locked in jail, but it is safer here than living on the street. From what I have observed, this is a safe place for a woman, a temporary refuge for a person who has lost her way. On the outside, she could die from an overdose, suffer physical attacks, or be fatally injured while cooking meth or making a drug deal. As she sobers, she has time to think about her life and the choices she has made.

One of the best things about Lauderdale County Detention Facility is the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry. It is directed by Chaplain Dennis Marks and ministers to both men and women. Early in December, the GNJ&P volunteers distribute Christmas cards and stamps among the prisoners so that greetings can be sent to loved-ones. Just before Christmas day, bags will be prepared with small gifts for each detainee. Volunteers will deliver the gifts, present a devotional, and participate in the nearest thing to a party that can be allowed in a jail pod.

The message that Good News Jail and Prison Ministry brings is that a prisoner’s life does not have to remain the same. Chaplain Marks believes that people can change, and his goal is to send changed people back into the community. This can only be done when those who have been bound and shackled come to know their true identity in Christ Jesus.

Andrew T. Jackson once said to his son: “People make mistakes every day, and some never get caught, but you are lucky. Because you were caught and by divine grace you have a second chance. You can use the trials to your benefit. This is part of a greater plan. Persevere Son, because if you could not handle it, you would not be here.”

What we say to these women is that they are blessed to be in a safe place, and that this trial of spending Christmas in jail can benefit them greatly if they can believe it to be part of a greater plan. When an inmate begins to look at her situation in the light of what is possible in a future with Jesus, she has already been set free.

When my jail visit ends and I am once again in the midst of the sights and sounds of Christmas, I whisper, “Happy Birthday, Jesus! But for You, we would all be bound and shackled.”