Click here for more photos

New Hope Windward’s annual Christmas production, which brought 90 performers and support staff to the Kailua women’s prison Wednesday evening, restores hope in those behind bars who feel society has forgotten them, inmates say.

"With events like this it’s like a renewal, a rejuvenation for them," said Kimberly Pada, who leads the praise and worship team at the Women’s Community Correctional Center. "It touches people exactly where they need it. Some don’t even believe (in Jesus), but when they start seeing this, that’s the journey they start to go on. …You have be here to watch their faces, and then you see the transformation."

Lillian Hussein, an inmate assistant chaplain, said women appreciate "just to be remembered behind bars," adding, "Every year, it’s amazing."

The New Hope crew goes "all out" and starts setting up at noon for the 6:30 p.m. performance, attended by the entire population of almost 300 inmates, she said.

New Hope is also presenting the production, "Believe," free to the community Dec. 22 and 23 at Paliku Theatre at Windward Community College.

Dave Barr, pastor of New Hope Windward, said that by using song, dance and other media to dramatize the story of Jesus, "the information moves from your head to your heart."

The church has held a Wednesday night service at WCCC for more than four years, with regular attendance now at about 150, Barr said.

The prison ministry is led by Chaplain Tammy Turcios — affectionately nicknamed "Chap" by the inmates — who also directs the faith-based Total Life Recovery Program to teach prisoners rehabilitation skills to successfully re-enter society.

A team of 15 inmates, to which Pada and Hussein belong, organizes and sets up the full weekly service with minimal assistance from church members, Turcios said.

Hussein’s face glows from, as she puts it, being "rooted and grounded" in God’s love, and she tries to bring other prisoners into the fold not by preaching, but by her attitude and behavior.

"Pastor Barr says sometimes people don’t pick up their Bibles, so the only person they’ll read is you; you have to be that living Bible!" she said, laughing. "Sometimes they (the inmates) get mad at us and call us Holy Rollers. But they always come to us for prayer whenever something happens in their lives. We love it!"

Pada said, "What I love most to see is them (inmates) worship, then they hear the word, then the next day on the compound, they’ll talk about how God spoke to them."

Wiping away tears, Pada said, "In our program, some of the sisters just cry when they look at the people (church volunteers) who give up time with their family to spend time with us. That touches them in their innermost places, and they just weep and say thank you. God put all these wonderful people in our lives to love us, to give us hope, to let us know that we’re not alone."

Pada, who is nearing the end of her 18-year sentence for child abuse, said being in the Total Life program and on the ministry team has transformed her and enabled her to bear the time she has spent in prison, where "society labels you and puts a number on you."

"They usually call us castaways, outcasts, and say, ‘Lock ’em up and throw away the key,’ but that’s not what God says; God has a purpose and a plan for us," Pada said.

"I just wanted to die when I came to prison," she said, recalling the shame and self-condemnation for the crime she committed. "God has done an amazing thing in my life."

Being part of the ministry team gives her "a place to belong and be accepted. To know that we’re not forgotten, to know that no matter what, God loves us."

Hussein, who is in prison on identity theft charges, and Pada said once they are released, hopefully in a couple of years, it will be gratifying to have a church family at New Hope help them move back into society. A lot of people return to their old ways of doing things that got them into prison in the first place, but having support will "help us stay on that straight and narrow," Hussein said.