Seeking the Keys to Inner Peace Behind Jail’s Locked Doors

Veronica Soria Carrillo clutched her nose and closed her eyes as the chaplain lowered her into the warm baptismal water. She surfaced, smiling, to a chorus of “Amens.”

The ceremony that made Carrillo weep with joy was not a typical baptism. She is locked up awaiting a deportation hearing, and the ceremony was held behind bars at the Santa Ana City Jail, and marked the first baptism ceremony held there.

Carrillo, 25, was among 10 women and three teenage boys who volunteered to be the first to use a new portable baptismal set up in a recreation cell on the fourth floor of the jail.

Standing in white gowns, dripping wet, they smiled, hugged and cried.

“I feel different,” Carrillo said, standing on the concrete floor in sandals that squished. “I feel new for the best. I feel like crying. It’s a change for me--to show not just myself but God that I can better myself.”

The ceremony was a novelty at the jail. Another two dozen women inmates pressed against the glass outside the recreation area to watch. Some waved. Some prayed.

“It was like a touchdown in heaven--Amen!” cheered Pastor Enrique Gonzales of On Fire Ministries, which helped organize the service. “This is a blessing.”

The $2,200 portable baptismal was paid for by the Southern Baptist Assn. The logic behind the purchase was simple: People in jail have a lot of time to think, and prison officials and ministers agree it’s better to have inmates thinking about God than crime.

Baptisms are common in prison and county jails. A baptismal in a city jail is rarer because inmates generally don’t stay that long.

The Santa Ana jail is different from most city jails because it houses many long-term federal detainees, either for the Immigration and Naturalization Service or the U.S. Marshals.

Jail Administrator Russ Davis said the baptismal is an essential part of the jail’s religious programs.

“If all of our efforts change one inmate then it’s worth it,” he said.

Carrillo agreed. Locked up for two weeks after getting caught in a car that had drugs in it, she faces deportation to her birthplace of Chihuahua, Mexico, for breaking U.S. laws, but she is praying she’ll be able to stay in America with her daughters, Amorous, 8, and Darian, 5.

“I’m going to get out of this,” she said, adding that her newfound faith will help make the difference.