The pews were gone in San Quentin’s Protestant Chapel. The tables were set in red and green. Dinner was served for more than 300 invited guests and prisoners.
Chaplain Mardi Jackson invited volunteers from more than 20 churches who hold programs for prisoners. The feast, prepared by John “Yah-Ya” Parrett, included chicken, roast beef, turkey, vegetables, mashed potatoes, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, salad and apple pie with ice cream.
One of the volunteers was Randy Fischback from Hillside Covenant Church in Walnut Creek. In an interview he said he had also volunteered at Angola prison in Louisiana. That program, through Malachi Dads, helped reunite fathers, sons, brothers, and families.
He said the opportunity allowed him to witness when people with unfortunate and difficult lives make “the conscious decision to do right in their lives by following Christ, or simply realizing that they should treat others like they want to be treated as long as no one is harmed.”
He said the Angola experience was so successful that he wanted to use the same ideas for San Quentin, which is much closer to his home in Walnut Creek.
Fischback said those who had done the greatest misdeeds had the great advantage of learning the most through their personal transformation, he said.
