I grew up in an Eastside Des Moines home marked by trauma and abuse. At an early age I had to learn how to survive on my own. Survival meant shutting down my feelings, hiding my pain, and turning to whatever numbed me the quickest. That led me into drugs, crime, toxic relationships, and a lifestyle full of chaos. As the years went by I became harder and angrier. I carried resentment toward the world and especially toward God. I couldn’t understand why He would allow such brokenness in my life. Instead of seeking Him I ran further away.

Even in the middle of my mess God was planting seeds. I didn’t know it then, but He was working when I was in the Polk County Jail. It became like a surrogate family to me at times–disciplining me when I needed it, protecting me from myself, and putting me in “timeouts” that I now see as God’s way of slowing me down. Behind bars felt like punishment, but it was when God whispered and said that He hadn’t given up on me.

It took many years for that seed to take root. I stumbled plenty of times, but God’s hand was steady even when I wasn’t. In August of ’24, everything changed. I walked into a Sober Soldierz meeting in Des Moines and sat quietly as I listened to testimony after testimony. I heard stories of people who had been where I was–broken, addicted, hopeless–and yet they spoke with a freedom, a peace, and a joy that I had never known. As I sat there something shifted inside me. The very thing I had been searching for all my life finally came into focus. The void I had tried to fill with drugs, relationships, and chaos suddenly didn’t feel so empty anymore. I realized that what I had been missing wasn’t a “thing” at all–it was Jesus.

That night I surrendered. I laid down my anger, shame, and addiction at His feet. I turned my life over to Jesus, and for the first time in years I felt free. By God’s grace I have been clean for over 14 months. I am working a good job, have my own home, and my family is back in my life. I’m actively working a 12-step program which keeps me grounded, humble, and connected to the people and principles that keep me moving forward.

Most importantly I now have a real relationship with God. I once hated the world and the God who created it, but now I thank Him daily for saving me. I no longer see jail as wasted time, but as one of the tools God used to change my direction. He took the broken pieces of my past–my trauma, my addiction, my failures–and is now building something new. All the glory belongs to Him! What I couldn’t do on my own He has done in me, and I know He is not done writing my story.

I was born in Des Moines, attended Van Meter School and graduated from there. I grew up in an Evangelical Free and Catholic household where I accepted Christ at an early age. I played college baseball at Iowa Central in Fort Dodge and then went on to finish my degree at the University of Grand Canyon in Phoenix, Arizona. I married my college sweetheart after college and lived a blessed marriage early on. Then there were some marital issues that we had to work through to reconcile. We had a daughter. I found out six months later she wasn’t mine due to my wife having an affair. After the heartache I wrongly chose bitterness and resentment and walked away from God.

Through many relationships I found myself in the deepest and darkest moment of my life, battling suicidal depression, anxiety and alcoholism. In October 2022 I was arrested for theft in an unfortunate family affair. Three days into jail I met Chaplain Jerry, a saint who guided me back to Christ. I always felt too far gone to come back to God, but the love of Christ brought me back from certain doom. After thirteen weeks in jail I got probation, only to slip back into it, but God had a plan. I was sentenced to prison in May 2024 for a probation violation. Christ convicted me to full repentance where I put my hand to the plow and have not looked back!

I would have never known God’s mercy, grace and love had I not gone to prison. Within a few months Christ has freed me from prescription medicine for depression and anxiety. It’s a true miracle!

I hope to work again with special needs children and adults, and get into prison ministry as soon as possible. I give special thanks to my mother, Gary’s, and Church prayers. God is faithful, and through Him nothing is impossible!

My name is Sheri Fisher and I was arrested on 11/4/06 for my participation in the death of Matthew Stegman.

I grew up in foster care and moved from home to home throughout my childhood. I went through physical, emotion and sexual abuse until I was 14. When I was 12, I got pregnant by one of my abusers who was my then foster mother’s fiancé. I freaked out and ended up causing a miscarriage. I hated myself for years because of this. After the miscarriage I started cutting heavily and attempting suicide. When I turned 18 I aged out of the foster care system and became homeless. I started making friends with the wrong people. The were people who didn’t accept me for who I was, but for what they could get from me. The longer this continued the more I disliked myself.

After my arrest I started going to Bible study with Terrie and meeting with the Chaplain weekly. I was looking at a life sentence; however, God was good and I got 25 years with 17.5 mandatory. God opened doors after I got to prison and I was able to go to classes that other “long-termers” weren’t able to take. I joined the Women at the Well church council and got involved with Residents Encounter Christ. I learned to lean on God even more.

If I had not gone to prison I would be dead. I know this. God saved my life and gave me hope for a future. He didn’t want me to die in sin, and He gave me the strength to persevere in the face of adversity. God is always faithful even when we lose our faith in Him. God is great all the time!

Disciples who are on mission for God don’t always have to go to foreign lands to take the gospel. They can go across the street to their families, neighbors and co-workers. Countless men and women have responded to the gospel in the Polk County Jail and then God places them on mission to go and tell others of God’s work in their lives. Your testimony is the greatest single method of reaching others for Christ.

Irene was one who gave her life to Christ at the PCJ and then began sharing her faith with others immediately. Often new believers are bold, excited and unashamed to tell others Who changed their lives and she didn’t hesitate to take advantage of opportunities.

Irene says, “I came from a very broken home. My dad was an abusive alcoholic who beat Mom horribly. Mom left him when I was 5. He took the kids from her and eventually shot and killed himself in front of our family. Mom couldn’t take care of us so we were sent to an orphanage for three years. Mom remarried but he was an alcoholic. We mirrored what they did – smoke weed and drink. I thought every kid went to elementary school stoned. I rebelled at 14. I wanted to be accepted and liked by my friends, so I did drugs and alcohol with them. At 15 I left home. At 16 I was pregnant at 17 I was married. By 19 I’d committed adultery and divorced him. My son was taken from me by his dad because of my behavior. That was the beginning of shame, guilt, and a life out of control with drugs, alcohol and crime. I lost dad, my best friend to a drowning accident. They never found his body, so I covered more pain with drugs and alcohol.

Again I married and we moved to Iowa to be with my mom. Russ and I had two beautiful daughters, but we did a lot of drinking, made and sold meth, stole, and did more crime. In 2008 I was arrested for selling meth and went to Polk County Jail. I was on my way to prison but I got rescued. Assistant Chaplain Russ Smith said, ‘God loves you and you don’t have to go to hell.’ He quoted Romans 5:8 God demonstrated His love while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. I asked Jesus into my life, but still went to prison on a 25-year charge. I had never felt so free in my \whole life, but once out all my family and friends had not changed. I went back to jail two more times where I learned to surrender to Jesus.

I’ve been clean and sober since May of 2014! So I’ve taken the opportunity to turn these messes in my life into a message from Christ who changed me into a daughter of the most high God. I’m redeemed! I’m forgiven! Nothing compares to my life in Christ. Everything I was searching for my whole life I found in Christ. I love to tell others of my redemption story that changed my life forever and I’ve seen many others who have received this redemption for themselves.”

I met a man who was so held captive by his hate and unforgiveness that you could see it in his demeanor. His state of mind was darkened by hate for the many offenders in his life, especially his dad who was very abusive. Only forgiveness can free an individual’s soul. Forgiveness can only be given if one has received it themselves through Jesus Christ; otherwise it is a cheap substitute for what’s real. The sad thing is that this type of hate leads people to go deeper into darkness and death. Wounded people wound people.

Over the years this man had physically hurt others as he acted out his rage. He even tried to obtain a book about the goddess of death as a type of bible. It wasn’t permitted by the Jail. He talked to a man in his housing unit who had a relationship with the Lord Jesus and chose to have me bring him a Bible to read instead.

I knew God was at work so I scheduled a meeting with him. He told me of multiple times when he was deeply wounded. After acknowledging these wounds he was ready to heal. You see, the Bible states, “Confess your sins one to another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). I shared with him that to forgive, one must be forgiven.

He had spent many years in prison sharpening his attitudes of hate. At the same time he was drawn to a Bible study teacher in his housing unit. Christian had watched his life change dramatically, so he began to attend. From this new information I knew God had been working to sow seeds in his life. It was time to share the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, and His atoning work on the cross.

It’s so hard to let go of what has held us for so long. It’s as though hate becomes an identity. Unforgiveness, holding grudges, and hating people are so exhausting. No wonder Jesus said, “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Christian was finally ready to surrender his life to Christ. The atmosphere in the room changed, and so did his attitude. When he prayed and surrendered his heart to Jesus Christ his brand new life began. Totally forgiven, he can now forgive his enemies and be set free! PTL!

Just a few short months later Christian was found guilty of immigration violations and sent back to Mexico. Now he has a mission in his heart to share the gospel with those he once hated.

Carlos wrote that he had come from Mexico legally with a work visa and had met his wife while working here. He had received Jesus as his Lord and Savior but he was not attending church on a regular basis. Soon he began to drink and had problems with his wife. Then he got an OWI and came to Polk County Jail where I met him about three years ago. Carlos recommitted himself to following Jesus, but never followed through on getting into a church. He came to Jail again and this time with a domestic violence change.

As we were going through John 5 in our recent Bible study Jesus tells the paralytic man, “Now see you have been made well. Sin no more, lest something worse happens to you.” He suddenly said with tears in his eyes, “That is me. The last time I was here, I told God that I would return to Him and go to church. I never did.” He told the men that he wanted them to learn from his experience and that God is not mocked.

Carlos is now being deported and rightfully so. Even though he is leaving his family and home here, he knows that God is righteous and merciful. Although he is forgiven, Carlos has to face the consequences for his actions. He said, “I want to return to the Lord, commit to following Him, and live my life in a way that will bring Him glory.”

“Trust God.” Those are the two words I remembered my dad had spoken to me after he died. At the time of writing this letter 12 years have gone by since the day my father passed away, and something changed within me. I remember asking “how” when he told me to trust God. He simply repeated “trust God.” Those two words have taken on such a deeper meaning to me as I continue on this journey of life – not only together but individually.

Over the years I’ve come to believe everything happens for a reason from the places we go to the people we meet. When my dad was alive he would share wisdom with me from time to time, and one of the things he said was “hindsight is 20/20”. The way I’ve always understood that was while we’re in the moment, it can be difficult to understand why we are where we are, or why we feel how we feel. After something has occurred and we think back upon it with a clear mind, we can make sense of it. We can see how it fits into the grand scheme or bigger picture in our life.

I was in the Polk County Jail when I started to realize there was a good possibility I would be sent to prison. This realization scared me, and I asked Chaplain Jerry for a Bible. I didn’t know at the time I was on the cusp of the most spiritual divine intervention ever. I remember being in and out of jail relapsing on drugs. Every time they gave me a chance to figure this out until eventually the judge threw the book at me. At the time I was in denial, but the law and the Lord both knew I was guilty as charged. The time spent away from my loved ones was the most difficult part of prison. I finally got some sobriety time accumulated and regained my sanity. I began reading the Bible and writing in a journal every morning. I memorized verses I liked and gave nicknames to help me remember them. I even started collecting different translations of the Bible and comparing them. It was fun. Some of the guys in the yard knew more about God than me. Some rejected God, but we all co-existed. The big Homie didn’t like when I would rush through my workouts on Sundays so I could attend church, but he still showed me love. I prayed in the mornings and realized how grateful I was for all I had; shelter, food, friends, family, and freedom from addiction.

I finally started realizing how so many of the things I value in life are completely dependent upon my sobriety like real meaningful relationships, true happiness, and freedom in all its forms. Everything and everyone I’ve ever loved were centered upon my sobriety. It’s something that I’ve always wanted and understood deep down in my heart, but no matter how badly I wanted to be sober and stay that way, I couldn’t. I finally found Someone who can. To whoever might read this I’d like to encourage you to persevere, have faith that a life you might not be able to imagine is about to begin for you, and hold strong to what you value the most. Forgive yourself, respect others, and give thanks. Trust God.

I was born in Eldora, IA on 03/04/78. My parents were still children themselves as my mother was 17 and my father was 18. My Grandma and Dad’s side of the family were raised Catholic, and I ended up at the Catholic Church too. My mother was a Methodist. From a young age I knew of Jesus and prayed a silly prayer my parents taught me every night. My father was my best friend from the day I was born and still is to this day. Even as a child I was proud of my father for putting food on the table and doing ok for us. He was and still is an addict but he found a way to make it work better than it could have been. Along with his addictions came drama, and tragedy after tragedy of almost killing himself. More than once he rolled his service truck and escaped death each time.

One day I was playing in the yard when a man came to the door and told us he would like my sister and me to give the Lutheran Church a try. I ended up getting baptized and confirmed Lutheran, but let’s be honest I was more interested in girls, drinking and such. It wasn’t long after that when I started getting in trouble stealing cigarettes. I fell in love very fast with all the things that kill your soul. I felt like when the devil chose me he was happy. It seems Satan has been trying to whoop me my whole life. Don’t think I’m blaming him. I very much know I’m my biggest problem. My whole life it seems I’ve been trying to win a battle that can’t be won, and that’s not even the worst of it. Who cares about me? All of the sudden now I’m bringing everybody else down also. They all get hurt. I’ve always had a problem with instant gratification. I want the pain to be gone right now too.

Due to my struggles with meth addiction I spent 5 times in the Jail, and a lot of time in prison. I met Chaplain Jerry at the Polk Co. Jail. On 11/21/23 I gave my heart to Jesus! My life has taken a turn for the better. I completed prison, am off parole, and living a life free from meth. Now the Holy Spirit lives within me. I’m getting baptized Aug. 11th and married Sept. 7th.

Really I think I’m just trying to do the next right thing. I’m a very slow learner it seems. I have one more positive thing to say. Today as I sit here writing this I’m more sure that Jesus is who He says He is than ever. He’s helping so many people.

I grew up in a home filled with love, stability, and a strong sense of religion. From the age of six sports like softball, basketball, and track became a significant part of my life. My dedication and talent in softball led me to earn a college scholarship to play. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that at the age of 24 I would find myself addicted to methamphetamine. Looking back I realize now that I was chasing the highs I experienced during my softball career. Unfortunately this led me down a dark path. I lost my two children, my marriage, my home, and inflicted immense pain on the people I loved most.

The guilt and shame I felt drove me to use more drugs as a form of self medication. Throughout this period my family never gave up on me, and they continued to pray fervently for my recovery. One night at around 1a.m. my grandma prayed to God to get me off the streets. Within an hour I was pulled over and arrested for the first time. Although I was released on pretrial this time, I found myself arrested two more times along with multiple failed inpatient treatments. Despite these setbacks my family never stopped praying for me.

On my final arrest I met Chaplain Jerry. It was through our conversations and the church services led by him that he opened my heart to God. It had been closed off for so long. Upon my release I began attending church with my family. It was during one of these services that I went forward to the altar, and received the Holy Spirit. With God beside me and the Holy Spirit within me, my life began to change in ways I never thought possible.

Today I have two successful jobs, I am living with my children, and I am on the verge of getting my driver’s license back. None of this would have been possible without God’s grace and the unwavering prayers of my family. I am a living testimony that no matter how far one has fallen, God’s love and redemption are always within reach. My life has been transformed, and I am eternally grateful for the second chance I have been given. Ephesians 1:7 states In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.

Don’t talk. Don’t trust. Don’t feel. This was definitely the way it was in our home. I was born in 1975. Growing up it was myself, the baby, two older sisters, Mom and Dad until our father was killed on 12/12/80. That’s when the cycle began. Mom turned to drinking so to work she went, and then off to her next job the seat at the bar. We kids were either with sitters, or on our own until we were introduced to her new boyfriend (the Monster). She married him when I was 8 years young. The cycle of abuse was unreal. When Mom was home we were told to be good, pray, eat, etc. Mom worked and he didn’t. When she left he began the torture, molesting, beatings, made me smoke marijuana, drink beer, and do some cocaine a few times. My sisters were far too smart. They knew how to go to friend’s homes and stay away. He was a serpent, a spawn of Satan who was tattooed with 666 all over his body, and a controlling psycho! I was told I would die if I told anyone what he did to me, and I believed him.

Later on I was married for 10 years. When our son passed it caused me a whole life of lying, conning, drugs, divorce, alcohol, being jobless, homeless, lost, in and out of prison for 18 years. My Mom died in May, my aunt died in June, and my best friend and sister Kathy died in September ’23. I believed God was really evil to me. I was arrested again on 10/05/23. Eleven days later at 10:43 AM it was my goal to become a coward and look for the easiest way out of Jail. It was my best solution to tie a sheet around my neck, jump off the top tier, and into hell. Only moments later the Holy Spirit showed up and in walked my new found friend through Christ, Chaplain Jerry. I will never forget that day in North 3 at the Polk County Jail for the rest of my time on this earth and in the new life to come! Tears were rolling down my face when Jerry sat with me, led me to Jesus, and I began a new life at that moment.

When a person is lost and so out of this world it’s hard to explain the blessing of being saved. If you are not, give it a try. It’s an amazing thing. It is most definitely a miracle. I went from defying any belief that God was even remotely a thought in my head. Now my Drivers License has been issued by the Holy Trinity – God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. It’s the greatest gift ever! Walk it. Talk it. Believe it, and do not ever deceive it. He gave His only Son for our lives. If anyone does not know how AMAZING that is, come see me. I’ll walk beside and help guide you through to the one and only Jesus Christ!