Cumberland County Corrections Local 231 State Delegate Victor Bermudez( right) takes a moment to pray with Chaplains Dawkins and Johnson Evans.
helping and healing process and learning how to be a listening ear.
On March 9, Johnson Evans and Dawkins were sworn in by Deputy Warden Charles Warren as chaplains for the jail. They have since followed one of the fundamentals to integrating a successful chaplaincy.
“ Just working inside, being there for any officer, staff member or inmate who wants to talk to us,” Dawkins explained. Keeping the faith
If there was a blueprint for a law enforcement chaplain, it might be Johnson Evans. As faith would have it, the program came to her as much as she came to it.
Having been ordained as a minister in 1994, Johnson Evans has lent a listening ear and comforting soul to fellow officers since she came to Cumberland County Corrections in 2000. Working in corrections, in fact, has become a manifestation of giving her life to God.
“ I’ ve been in church since I was 19, and I was already saved when I came to jail,” she evangelizes.“ People have come to me in bad situations, and I’ ve tried to share my faith. I try to tell them how God helped me through certain situations.”
Dawkins also brings a been-there-done-that compassion to working in the jail. He talks about the circuitous route to the job that led him through some minor transgressions with the law. He worked part-time security in the private sector, eventually earned a degree in criminal justice from Stockton College and served as a volunteer firefighter in Vineland before coming to Cumberland County Corrections.
Dawkins admits being saved in 2005 but lacked direction until 2011 when he cleared a troubling traffic stop, had his record expunged and applied to the corrections academy.
“ I wanted to change but didn’ t know how,” he added.“ Then I found my way to the jail. Fortunately, the first time I saw the inside of the jail was when I came on the job.”
Perhaps because of such a long and winding road, Dawkins has gained a perspective that makes him qualified to be a chaplain.
“ I look at myself as a tool, not a fixer,” he confided. Good faith
Recently, the warden invited Johnson Evans and Dawkins to
From left, Rev. Gary Holden, founder of the Police Chaplain’ s Program, Officer Tonya Johnson Evans, Officer Robert M. Dawkins, Deputy Warden Charles Warren and Rev. Dr. Albert L Morgan from the Union Baptist Temple Church in Bridgeton after the ceremony to swear in the new Cumberland County Corrections chaplains on March 9, 2017.
a meeting with jail supervisors to discuss ways to detect when a member or inmate might be distraught. Signs to look for, Dawkins noted.
There have been substantive signs or moments of officers and inmates feeling the power of The Police Chaplain Program. Members have taken to addressing their chaplains as“ Sister Evans” and“ Brother Dawkins,” and inside the jail that language can facilitate a changing culture.
And an ad-hoc ministry has bubbled up to where many officers take their breaks.
“ I work in the front lobby, and officers have been coming up to me when they go out for their smoke breaks,” Dawkins described.“ They say,‘ Let me talk to you.’ They are talking about some of their personal matters. Sometimes, we just pray about it. The most important thing is to just listen so they can vent and get some stuff out.”
The chaplains are making a noticeable impact. Supervisors asked Johnson Evans to check in with four inmates on suicide watch, and she revealed that one of the individuals had requested spiritual counsel and rededicated himself to God. Talk about being saved.
And now members are stopping by her post to take a quick moment to pray or ask for some encouraging words. It is truly providing faith in a place where officers often question if faith still exists.
“ We all go through stressful moments, so we need to take some time out, take some deep breaths, get refocused and remember not to lose faith,” Johnson Evans sermonized.“ Faith is substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen. We’ re just trying to give them a little faith before they go back to work or go home after their shifts.”
The program apparently is emphasizing the simple message of the“ BIBLE” acronym: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. And as much as the word of God makes a difference, in this setting so do the words of a corrections officer.
“ The greatest thing is that they’ re in the facility,” Bermudez reminded.“ We work within a jail facility and with some of the things we see, faith is questioned all the time. But we can defuse that through our chaplains.” d
38 NEW JERSEY COPS ■ JANUARY 2018