When we think about Jesus and his short sojourn on earth, we like to envision him as a beautiful baby in his mother Mary's arms, as a miracle worker walking with the crowds that followed him, or as an eloquent preacher teaching the Sermon on the Mount. What does not come to mind is the image of a death row prisoner or a condemned prisoner executed alongside two thieves.

The fact that Jesus died a cruel death on a cross should make every believer an adamant opponent of capital punishment, but it hasn't. The mercy and compassion Jesus showed the repentant thief should help us rejoice in the transformation of criminals in prison who manage to turn their lives around, but that hasn't happened either. Jesus truly loved those outsiders and societal pariahs who broke the law and those who were "the dead men walking" of his times.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, with only 5% of the world’s population, the United States has 25% of the world's prison population, making it the world’s largest jailer.

• Since 1970, the U.S. prison population has risen 700%.

• One in 99 adults are living behind bars in the U.S. This marks the highest rate of imprisonment in American history.

• One in 31 adults are under some form of correctional control, counting prison, jail, parole and probation populations.

That is why we were so taken by the ministry of Chris Hoke, a jail chaplain and pastor to gangs in Washington's Skagit Valley. He received his B.A. from UC Berkeley and his MFA from Seattle Pacific University. Through his work with Tierra Nueva, a Christian ministry catering to immigrants, inmates, ex-offenders, and the homeless, he co-founded a coffee-roasting business which employs men coming out of prison and addiction. Visit him online at www.chrishoke.com.

After working in a violent inner-city program during his senior year in high school and again after college, he was inspired by an unconventional theologian to volunteer as a night-shift chaplain. He became entranced by the darkness. He agrees with Francis Kline, a contemporary Trappist monk, who has written:

"The Word enters our dreams and images more easily at the time before the sun's light. Only in the darkness are certain, more choice intuitions of God received."

In his ministry and Bible classes with prisoners, immigrants and gang members, Hoke is always looking for the presence of Jesus in these rough and rowdy men who in their most magnificent moments share their yearning for love and their desire to forgive others. He befriends Bob, a leader in prison, and confesses: "Bob was the professor I needed, the jail his seminary, inmates my fellow seminary students." He also is grateful to Richard, a wise inmate for "breaking and entering" his heart in a long and sustained friendship.

It is always inspiring to read about established writers and poets who take it upon themselves to visit prisons and teach classes to inmates. Every so often our spirits are lifted even higher by compassionate, courageous, and creative souls who give all they've got to prisoners in work modeled after the servant ministry of Jesus. Wanted describes such a ministry, and we highly recommend it to you.