Only Christ truly transforms inmates, says prison governor as she steps down

Coming to faith in Christ is the only thing that really transforms people in prison, says a Christian ex-jail governor.

Susie Richardson, Jersey’s prison governor for the past three years, stepped down from her post last month, closing the chapter on a 20-year career in the prison system.

A change in pace from Richardson’s experience in English prisons, HMP La Moye is the only prison on the island of Jersey and has a capacity of 200 inmates.

Richardson described her time at the Jersey prison as a challenging but ‘amazing’ three years. However, after two decades working in prisons, Richardson’s time on Jersey isn’t definitive of her entire career. ‘Jersey is quite privileged and well-resourced,’ she explained. ‘My heart is with the really deprived, broken, challenging prisons.’

Richardson, who has a psychology background, realised she wanted to be involved in running prisons after writing to her local prison and asking to join their psychology team. From the environment to the people, Richardson fell in love with prison work right away. ‘I’m prisons through and through,’ she said.

‘God sees everything you do’

As a Christian, Richardson’s beliefs have shaped her perspective and given new meaning to her roles over the years. ‘When you know God sees everything you do, you’re more accountable,’ she explained, noting that Jesus’ words from Matthew 25:40, ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me,’ were a recurring theme early in her career.

‘Being a Christian has helped me value each human,’ she said. ‘I think that love comes from God.’

Despite working with prisoners who have sometimes committed ‘hideous’ crimes, Richardson has found her experiences with her inmates to be richly rewarding. ‘There’s such an honesty with them,’ she said. ‘We’ve kind of stripped them of everything – of privacy, of dignity. If a prisoner says ‘thank you’ or says something kind, it’s so much more meaningful.’

Richardson has witnessed many stories of redemption throughout her career. While governor at Winchester Prison in Hampshire, she met Lewis, a homeless drug addict who had hit rock bottom. After completing the Alpha Course, an introduction to Christianity, Lewis cried out to Jesus and started his life on a different course. Now, Lewis is going through preordination and even delivers the Alpha Course to others who don’t yet know Christ. ‘That’s really profound,’ Richardson said.

After he was released from prison, Richardson asked Lewis to return to Winchester to share his testimony. ‘It was so significant to his journey,’ she said, noting that she and the ex-convict are prayer partners to this day.

From Richardson’s perspective, bringing God into these harsh environments is the best way to see lives fully transformed. ‘I feel like no matter what programme or intervention we put in place for prisoners, you can only help a person rehab so far without faith,’ she said. ‘The only time I’ve really seen lives absolutely transformed, like turned into something new, is through faith – I really believe it’s the most important thing that can happen in prisons.’

Christians delivering restorative practice is one way Richardson has seen lives turned around. ‘Punishment doesn’t change behaviour,’ she said, noting that restorative practice gets to the root of the problem, helping prisoners to recognise the harm they’ve caused and take responsibility for it. ‘That’s very powerful,’ she said.

And that’s why it’s so important for Christians to get involved with prison work, Richardson continued. ‘In any part of society, having really faithful Christians makes such a difference,’ she said. ‘When life gets complicated, it’s really genuine Christians who stand out.’

As Christians, we are called to care for people on the margins of society, including prisoners, Richardson explained, whether that’s by praying for your local prison governor and staff or by taking practical steps to help. ‘It’s important for Christians to care about prisons even if they’re not serving directly in them because it’s a really Biblical thing,’ she said. ‘There’s so much reference to prison in the Bible and people in prison.’

During her time at Winchester prison, Richardson got to see local churches step up by asking how they could help and then going above and beyond to provide. After telling the churches that staff were short on mugs and teabags, local Christians ‘flooded’ the prison with mugs and hampers of tea, coffee, and hot chocolate, Richardson recalled.

Now, after two decades following this calling, Richardson feels God leading her in another direction. ‘I don’t think God’s calling me to run prisons anymore,’ she said, although she expects her next venture will likely be connected to helping other vulnerable groups.

‘Prison chaplains shine’

In the meantime, Richardson is looking into writing a book about ‘faith on both sides of the door’ and the importance of bringing God into prisons, particularly through the role of prison chaplains. ‘In this horrible, awful environment, prison chaplains just shine,’ she said, noting the special ability of chaplains to ‘cross that door’ and provide hope in a hopeless situation.

After the many experiences, highs, and lows, of her prison career, Richardson has learned that depending on God is her greatest strength, even as the prison boss. ‘It’s great to be capable, but it can keep you strong in a human way but weak in the faith,’ she said, noting that there were times when situations felt impossible to handle. ‘God has always caught me,’ she said.