Get into jail free

Prisons | A federal court ruling has pried open the doors of California jails to Bible study materials | Mark Bergin

Court-approved: John with his book

Following his 1997 release from a seven-year stint behind bars, Ronald John has spent the last decade struggling to get his message back inside. As founder and director of Jesus Christ Prison Ministry (JCPM) in Lucerne Valley, Calif., the self-made minister ships his self-published workbook, Change Your Life Biblically, to inmates seeking biblical teaching.

But until recently, many of those shipments never reached their intended audience, bouncing back to JCPM off an overly protective wall between church and state. "Ever since we've been doing this, getting books into prisons has been a real pain," John said. "The heartache of wanting to help an inmate and being refused by the institution is extremely disappointing."