The story of Kenny, ‘the Real Deal’

A palachee Correctional Institution, called aci , sits about 55 miles west of our home in Tallahassee. Deep in the Florida panhandle, it is right on the boundary of the Eastern and Central time zones. I accept the prison chaplain’s invitation and in January of 1990, I show up at the aci Chapel to be a prayer partner for men with terminal illness. Mostly aids and cancer. I am very clear in limiting my commitment to the terminally ill because I do not want to be swamped by healthy inmates who are anxious to meet a lawyer. I am here to pray with men who are dying. As I enter the prison chapel, there is a long line of over 50 prisoners snaking around the exterior of the church building as they wait for their individual appointments with me. The chapel clerk, who has been assigned to assist me, also requests a prayer appointment. My ...