Letter from the Outagamie County Jail

Here is a wonderful letter from our brother in the Lord Mark Gabriel.  Literally thousands of children have been saved through Mark's powerful witness for Jesus at abortion mills across this nation.  Our times in jail always give God an opportunity to show up and do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or imagine.  Enjoy! In Christian love, Flip 

Letter from the Outagamie County Jail

Mar 14, 2006
9:12 am

Dear friends,

I was released from the Outagamie County Jail yesterday at about 7:30 am.  A brother picked me up and took me back to his house where I had parked my Truth Van.  I immediately returned to the Planned Parenthood Killing Center ( PP), since yesterday and today are the two kill days this week. I thought I would give you a report on how things went.  Thanks to all who prayed for me and others in the jail, the Judge, jury, and officers who have worked against us at PP.

I received some 30 pieces of mail within the 5-6 days I could receive it.  From that, I received close to 200 tracts and pieces of pro-life literature.  I did my best to spread them around, but with limited access to other prisoners, I wasn't able to get them all out.  Brother Cal Zastrow likes to preach to the guards on the outside of the envelopes. The jail information said they don't allow mail with writing on the outside, like gang symbols, drawings, etc., but they let me have his letters and envelopes, praise God!  I received two of three anyway, though the last one (an aborted baby postcard) may have come too late to be delivered to me, while I was still there. They also may have gotten tired of looking at aborted baby pictures in my mail!  Cal wrote in large letters all over the front of two envelopes:

Hey Guards!
You are imprisoning an innocent man who has rescued many children from death.  He was unjustly arrested and tried for peacefully preventing the murder of innocent children. Don't be a silent accomplice to tyranny! Ask Rescuer Mark how you can help.

Hey Guards!
By imprisoning Mark, you are preventing him from saving the lives of children.  Ask him how you can take his place in saving innocent children!

I also received mail from Christians/Pro-lifers I don't know, most having received the news via e-mail, sometimes forwarded two or three times.

I was processed in at 4:00 am last Sunday morning.  They issued me an orange, two piece, jail uniform, sandals, socks and underwear. I had worn in three layers of underwear, which I couldn't use.  I brought in my own Bible, two books, a pad of paper and two pens.  They let me keep all of it, which was a major answer to prayer.  A friend sent me another book through the mail, but since it didn't come directly from the publisher, they would not let me have it and told me it would be sent back to him at his cost.  I tried to get them to put it in my property (with my clothes), or in the jail library, but there was no other option.

I lived in four different units, or pods.  Each unit has a large open area with metal tables and a TV.  Along the back side of the unit were the individual cells which contained a bed for one inmate, or a bunk for two.  Except for most of the first day, I always had a cell mate.  The door to the cells would slide shut and slam lock at 10:15 PM.  The lights in the cells would stay on until 11:00 PM or so, and then only dim slightly.

The TV is a real nuisance, because they show nothing but the usual trash, and even in your cell, you can't get away from the sound of it, since the volume is turned up, except for the mornings.  The mornings were the best time of day for me, because it was quiet. In all, but the last pod I was in, only one or two other inmates would be up.  I read my Bible, and got caught up in my Bible reading schedule that takes me through it in a year. I memorized most of the first chapter of James.  My second cell mate overheard me saying it out loud and complained to me and to a jail guard.  I was speaking the scriptures only loud enough to hear myself over the TV, inside my cell.  His name is Adam and he was antagonistic to the Gospel. Just for me, he put up a gross picture of a demon with the title, "Hell awaits."  You could pray for him.  They moved him out of the pod before the day was over, praise God.

My first cell mate was a clear divine appointment.  His name was Xavier (pronounced, "Ha-vee-air"), and he was an 18 year old Mexican American with a pregnant 17 year old girl friend.  He kept telling me how he wants to change his life and not hang around his old party friends, but spend more time with his girl friend.  I told him he needed the Lord to change him from the inside out.  He said his girl friend was committed to having their baby, even though her "best friend" gave her the idea that she could abort. Xavier's mom was a young single mother at one time, so she has been after him to be a responsible father.  Xavier wants to get a good job when he gets out and eventually marry this girl. 

He said he believes in God, but didn't really understand why Jesus had to die.  He knew it was for us, but the idea that God's justice demands a penalty for sin, and that Jesus paid that penalty through a death of torture, bloodshed and pain, was new to him.

Please pray for Xavier and his girl friend.  He got put in isolation on Wednesday.  Sometimes an inmate will get back in line to get more food. Unless the guards count, they hand out extra meals.  At times they may not care.  An old black guy didn't come down for breakfast, and while we were all eating, began screaming from his upstairs cell.  I didn't understand what he was saying at first.  It turns out that two of the guys took an extra breakfast bag.  It contained a small styrofoam bowl of cereal, two packets sugar, a spoon, a hard boiled egg, and a piece of coffee cake.  With it came a small container of milk and orange juice.  A big muscular black guy had one extra bag and my skinny, little cell mate had the other.  Guess whose bag the guy claimed was his?  I was disgusted by the whole juvenile affair, and I wasn't going to sit by while he picked a fight with Xavier, so I yelled up to him, "You have to pick up your bag like everybody else." That's about all it took for the guy to lose it, and come charging down the stairs.  I stood up to keep from getting blind sighted, facing him at all times.  He ran for the broom handle and held it like a bat, ready to swing. I just stood there.  He hit me in the neck with his hand.  It just knocked me back a bit.  When I didn't retaliate, he backed off, but was still angry. After breakfast, while I was reading my Bible, he was going on, calling me a hypocrite.  I told him that he needs a Bible too, and everyone else in the pod.  He was on his feet again, and this time took a swing at my head.  I must have turned my head, because he hit me in the back of the head and sent my glasses flying, knocking one lens out.  My Bible and papers were all over the floor.  I didn't do anything in response, other than tell him that he was really in trouble now.

Nothing else happened.  At first opportunity, I reported the incidents and the guards locked everyone in their cells.  I wrote up an account of what happened, they interviewed a few people and ended up moving the attacker and myself to other units.  The Captain told me they were writing up the attacker.  I'm not sure what that means.  Apparently, the only thing he admitted to was picking up the broom stick, and I imagine none of the other eye witnesses talked.  Otherwise they should have charged him with assault. They should have charged him anyway, but I guess my testimony was not enough for them. You could pray for him.  His name is Curtis Scott.

The pod they moved me out of, was a medium to high security unit. After that incident, they moved me into a minimum security unit.  The guys there got along better.  After they moved the atheist out of my cell, I got a new cellmate named Tom.  He was another divine appointment.  He said he had come to the Lord a few years ago, but he had a drinking problem.  He had a Bible with him, though I didn't see him read it much. He lives near where my Church meets in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, so I encouraged him to stop by when he gets out.  He seemed interested.

One morning in prayer, the Lord gave me the idea of skipping a meal and speaking to the men in the unit while they ate.  It would be an ideal time since I wouldn't be interrupting anything and it tended to be quieter then.  That would take a lot more courage than I have, but the Lord could give it to me. After prayer that morning, I wrote some notes down of what I wanted to say.  When lunch came around, I really didn't feel like doing it and told myself I would do it at dinner time.  As dinner time drew closer I didn't feel like doing it either and really didn't plan to.   I was reading and going through a bunch of mail that I had received and kept looking out my cell door to see if the dinner trays had come.  It seemed like one minute I saw all the guys sitting, waiting around, and the next, they all had their trays and had started eating.  I immediately knew what I was supposed to do.  I wasn't about to skip a meal for nothing.  I still didn't feel like doing it, and I didn't feel very anointed, but I did have my notes.  I walked over to the TV and turned the volume down. I told the men that I had something important to tell them.  The trustee of the cell that everyone looked up to, spoke up and told the guys to listen.  I was surprised to have his full attention and interest. I told them, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul."  I encouraged them to make their lives count for God.  I told them about King Solomon who had it all, yet said it was all in vain.  He concluded that the final important thing was to fear God and keep His commandments, for God will bring everything into judgment (Ecc.12:13-14).  It wasn't long, but to the point.

I sat down at the Trustee's table where he told me that he had just given his life to the Lord a couple weeks ago and that good things were happening in his life. Later he asked me where he could get a Bible with a zipper because he wanted to take it to work with him and carry it around in his car.  He asked me for my phone number, so he could contact me when he gets out. He admitted to having a cocaine addiction which has been his downfall repeatedly. He spoke of a rough childhood and a father who is in prison. He has a thirteen year old daughter that he called often from jail.  She looks up to him.  He and another inmate at the table were in a Christian counseling group, led by a Mr. Russell.  They both seemed very pleased with how the program had helped them.  They were in other groups too, including one called, "Right Choices." Please pray for this trustee, named Joe and the other inmate, Tony.  Joe seemed to be in his late 20's or early 30's.  Tony is 24.  Tony admitted to having a serious drinking problem.  He is a friendly guy and one of the first guys to talk to me. He's from New York and came to the area to help his uncle run a restaurant. On Thursday I received an extra Bible and I gave it to Tony. He was grateful.  Please pray for Tony.  I left a note for him, right before I got out, encouraging him to sign up for the Bible Studies.  The chaplain at the jail is a godly man who has gotten some good men as volunteer assistant chaplains.  One of the Bible Studies I attended, was on heaven and hell.  They listed a bunch of questions about each with the scriptures where you could find the answers, so we went through it.  They didn't sugar coat anything.  The truth was there for all to see, and the choice was up to each man.  The sad thing was that so few men sign up for these Bible studies.  That is the advantage of being a Christian inside the jail.

There is more to say, but I'm already late for getting out to the abortion mill.  Thank you again for your prayers, and mail.  Pray that the tracts left in library books and under mattresses and beside the TV are all read and used to save souls and move men to hate sin.

A captive for Christ,

Mark Gabriel