After state officials pulled funding from college education programs in Illinois’ prison system, private donors have decided to provide the inmates with a new type of higher learning: a seminary.
Divine Hope Reformed Bible Seminary opened last year behind the walls of the Danville Correctional Center, which is home to some of the state’s convicted murders, drug dealers and violent offenders. The accredited seminary offers inmates the opportunity to earn bachelor’s degrees in divinity, theological studies and Christian studies, so once they are released, they can help others find the path to redemption.
Nathan Brummel, a pastor who serves as the seminary’s only full-time professor, told The Chicago Tribune, “Their joy has grown. Now I’m seeing some of those men have a dramatic change-around. They’re peacemakers.”