"I have seen hell, and I have seen heaven." Jan DeCock so summarized his experiences visiting prisons around the world, living with the inmates for days, weeks, and months. His message was truly one of both exposing the dehumanizing conditions suffered by many inmates, as well as expressing the redemptive and supremely humanizing experiences that also presented themselves to him during his visits. Visiting the school on Thursday, March 26, Jan presented stories from his year-long "world tour" of prisons to a luncheon gathering of about thirty-five students and faculty in the Student Center. Jan was invited by Dr. Blake Billings '77, the school's director of Christian Community Service, who introduced Jan as his "good friend and godfather of my son."

The slide presentation included images of some of the prisons he has visited, as well as of many of the people he encountered, both in incarceration and in the surrounding communities. Some of the "hellish" realities were indeed disturbing. Jan told of prisoners in Haiti confined in one cell without access to a courtyard or any exercise, essentially standing on one square yard literally for years. He felt he could not speak too strongly in front of them of the harshness of their condition, as he was there for only one week, while some of them had been laboring there for as many as eight years. In one case, a prisoner who had died was not even removed from a group holding cell for several days. He spoke of the hundreds of death row inmates in Thailand, wearing twenty-pound shackles linking their ankles without relief for over five years. He spoke of prisoners in Japan, in hygienic conditions, yet not allowed to speak or make eye contact with guards, and moved directly to extreme solitary confinement should those rules be breached. Jan spoke of literally hundreds of prisoners in Benin held indefinitely in confinement without legal recourse or advocacy for having been found within 300 meters of a crime scene.

Yet these hardships did not tell the whole story. He spoke of the wardens concerned about those in their charge, working to improve life and reduce recidivism in their prison population. He spoke of a program in India involving prisoners in a meditative life-examination, helping to reduce recidivism to a stunning two percent (typical averages are closer to fifty percent). He spoke of a Russian prisoner creating a collection of miniature orthodox churches from his toothpaste. He spoke of the women in prison in New Zealand, winning an academy award for costume design for their work in the Lord of the Rings. He spoke of his encounter with school children in the Congo who, hearing of the plight of prisoners without fuel to prepare their spare and long-delayed food supplies, then provided the prisoners with ample firewood to meet their needs. It was a joyful moment for the prisoners, who burst into spontaneous song, an occasion strengthening Jan's belief that he is able "to find Jesus in the prisoners," and to learn so much from them.

Jan spent a good deal of his presentation describing his extended stay in the Congo. The conditions he encountered there were quite desperate - men held without food or even water for weeks, dependent on provisions brought in by impoverished or alienated family members. At one moment, the collapse of the wall separating the women's quarters from the latrine resulted in little difference between the area for human waste and the living area of confinement for the women. The conditions resulted in rapidly deteriorating health for those incarcerated there. Jan's visit was instrumental in helping provide food, fuel, and other basic needs to the prisoners held in this otherwise neglected facility. It also generated his second book, The Cellars of the Congo.

Mr. De Cock explained that he first was drawn to prison work through his work with street kids in Chile. Many of the children ended up spending time in prisons due to involvement in glue sniffing. Jan realized that in order to better understand their situation, he had to truly experience the prison environment. After returning to Belgium and discussing the prospect of visiting prisons in Chile, Jan was convinced by friends and colleagues that he should visit prisons elsewhere to more fully identify with prison life. One product of his year's journey was the book Hotel Prison, initially published in Jan's native Dutch, but now translated into German, French, and hopefully soon English. Friends of Jan have also worked with him to create a new foundation, "Within-Without-Walls," committed to providing resources, support, and humanitarian relief in prisons globally. Their work has resulted in construction of a new prison, provision of mattresses, as well as other critical supplies. Jan currently devotes much of his time to "Within-Without-Walls," while working full time as a pastoral worker in hospitals in Belgium. More information on his work can be found at the foundation's website (English page; Dutch language homepage). An article on his experiences can also be found on the website of Prison Fellowship International.