Men of integrity
Len Matthews (left) with The Salvation Army’s Major John Hindle. (Photo supplied by Len Matthews)
Len Matthews is a beacon for the hardened criminals the rest of society has truly abandoned.
For Len, who manages Salvo Care Line Brisbane, a series of discussions with his local member about why so little behavior is changed in prisons and why many prisons are known as “universities for crime”, soon became “a debate with God”.
“What difference can we make? What difference can one person make?” Len asked in prayer.
Soon after, he saw a sign for a role as prison chaplain.
For the past eighteen months, together with Salvation Army (Major John Hindle), Len has spent one day a week visiting a local men’s prison, including the locked units that house high-profile prisoners.
“Our hope is to help skill them, because outside prison there’s a whole host of shame, and a whole host of judgment. They’re going to need to stand by themselves and know ‘I am a person of worth, Christ is with me, the Salvos are with me.’
“Otherwise the only option many feel they have is to go back inside.”
While he doesn’t minimise prisoners’ personal responsibility, Len says: “The stories you hear of their lives, when they do open up, are terrible. Some of the crimes these guys have done have been horrific. Some are abusers, but most have been abused.
“My wife is a teacher and over the years we’ve talked about the fact that she can already see potential in some children to end up like the guys we might see in prison. They’re almost earmarked from infancy, unless there is effective intervention, because of how they’re treated at home.”
Len is no stranger to all aspects of human nature, clocking up six and a half years of training telephone counsellors, then counselling and management at the Care Line Service.
He says that some people question why time and resources should be spent on high security prisoners. But he believes these lives will not change unless someone models healthy living, care and most importantly the power of God to change lives.
“Some are totally disowned by their family,” says Len. “Others have somehow reconnected with family or have a partner that still comes to see them. I thought the chaplaincy visits were one thing I could do to display love and acceptance and just let these fellows know there’s one person who cares for them.”
While it doesn’t happen in every life, Len truly believes “small things can change the course of a life.”
“I was working through 40 days of fasting, and I prepared some brochures for the prison chapel service.
“I didn’t sell it up big, but mentioned it, and one of the guys took a brochure and told me he was going to fast from swearing for 40 days. He has done that for 40 days and it changed him!
“At the last chapel service we did, we had everybody bring a prayer, a scripture, or a testimony – the service totally belonged to the prisoners, not us, and that’s when you see them (begin to) change.”
Len says he and John play an “anthem” every chapel service, hoping the song’s sentiment might inspire the men.
He says: “It’s called Godly Men and it’s about integrity – about stumbling, but coming back.
That, he says, is what the Salvos team tries most deeply to instill.
John says: “They need to become men of integrity, and hopefully we can help them to reach that point in their lives.”
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