Inmates and media: The Prison Show, snail mail and appreciating the Apostle Paul

A coupla interesting stories discussing inmates' relationship to media caught Grits' attention. First, NPR this week had a feature on The Prison Show, emphasizing how the long-running Houston-based radio show focuses on connecting inmates to their families.

"So many people go to prison and those relationships end," [host David] Babb says. "The families will write to them for a while, they'll go visit them for a while and it becomes a burden, it just tends to fades away."

But the show gives prisoners a way to stay connected and the call-ins they get from children are proof of that. One daughter left this message for her incarcerated dad: "Well, school's going great. I don't have any classes with my friends but I'm seeing that as the bright side to make new friends ... And I'm just loving school right now. So I hope you can wish me luck when it comes to all the tests I have to take this year. OK, love you, Dad. See you soon, I hope."

At The Baptist Standard, there's an interesting article suggesting inmates understand the ancients' relationship to the written word more innately and viscerally than those in the free world because of their relationship to snail mail.

Stephen Presley, who teaches a biblical interpretation class at a maximum-security prison near Houston, said the inmates' familiarity with letter writing has given them a unique perspective on the epistles that comprise a large portion of the New Testament.

"I think that (for) those of us who live in a world that's dominated by e-mail and controlled by other forms of technology, sometimes it's hard for us to understand the genre of letter writing—the genre of the epistles," Presley said.

"But for those who live in this world (behind bars), it was so easy for them to comprehend and to almost identify with the early church in the way they would have felt receiving these letters from Paul and how they would have treated the letter, perhaps, even in ways we don't, in terms of reading it from start to finish, reading it closely and observing every word."