The Acapulco Prison sits on a hill high above the city. We parked and then passed by several stations of guards. Each member of the team presented their passports, signed their names at three different checkpoints and were frisked twice. Once inside, we were escorted to the Warden’s office where we were briefed on the prison, the 2147 inmates, including men, women and children under six years of age.
Once inside, it could have been any park in latin America. Trees covered some of the spaces. Men and women sold tortillas, sat on benches, smoked cigarettes and passed the time. Some men were weaving hammocks and there were people all around selling woven bracelets and carry bags. There were guards like at any park, though they kept a little closer eye on things than is common in the outside world. Our team played 4 quarters of 12 minutes each, in the noon heat. It seemed that our seven guys were not going to outlast the 1500 or so players available for the other side!
After the game, Manny Hernandez from Winslow, Arizona spoke to the crowd and shared Christ.
It was an odd experience. I spent a good while talking with Harley who spent time in a Federal Penitentiary in the US before being transferred to Acapulco to serve out the rest of his time for distributing meth. He spoke of Chaplain Jackson in Nebraska, a “muy big black man” who taught him about following Jesus Christ. Harley hopes to get out in a year and a half and put his Macaroni Grill and Chili’s cooking experience to work in Acapulco with his own restaurant.
The prison system is just wide open and just wide open and screaming for help. They value the message of Christ and see it as a way that the lives of men and women can be changed for good.
P.S. We did a head count and everybody we took in to prison got back out again!
