I'm posting this on behalf of one of my clients who wrote an in-depth book about the U.S. prison system and why it costs so much: The Costly U.S. Prison System. He wrote this response to Graham's funeral, after discovering that the casket was built by several inmates from the Louisiana State Prison, also called Angola.
Why Billy Graham's Casket Was Built by Prison Inmates: An Example of Graham's Message of Redemption
By Paul Brakke
Publisher of American Leadership Books
I just learned that Billy Graham's casket was built by several inmates from the maximum security Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, and it was signed by three of them. (Anna Douglas, "Graham, Making Caskets Were Inmates' Salvation", The Charlotte Observer, reproduced in The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/3/18) I was profoundly moved by an article in the Religion section of the local Arkansas Democrat Gazette, which detailed that one of these three inmates has since passed away and another is there for life, and that most of the 5600 or so inmates will die there. Yet, the Graham family chose to bury this greatest of religious figures, their patriarch, in a casket from Angola. Why? They believed in the power of redemption, which was at the heart of Graham's ministry.
I thought about these principles expounded by Billy Graham, since he was the most noted cleric of our time, whom every U.S. President since Truman came to know and pray with. He did not discriminate among political parties nor among races. He marched with Martin Luther King in Selma.
It is no surprise that Graham believed in redemption, but how did he come to be buried in a casket fashioned by inmates? It turns out that a new Angola warden in 1995 called for moral rehabilitation and believed that inmates dying at the prison deserved a dignified funeral service and to be buried in a proper casket. So a casket making program came to be at Angola.
Angola invited preachers including Billy Graham to come preach to the inmates, but by 2000, he was too physically disabled to go. However, in 2005 Billy Graham's son and fellow evangelist Franklin Graham did visit Angola and was so moved by the care the inmates took in building these simple caskets that he ordered one for his mom when she passed away in 2007 and more recently he ordered another for his father. Franklin said his father was "a simple man with a simple message" who would want to be laid to rest in a simple casket. The casket cost $215, but over time the Graham family donated over $200,000 to Angola for chapels and to support the prison ministry there. Many of the casket makers came to see the Lord through these ministries and achieved personal redemption, and undoubtedly so have many of the other inmates.
What is especially important about Graham's ministry is that truly great men of the cloth like Billy Graham and Pope Francis exercise personal humility while they preach redemption and salvation for all who put their faith in the Lord, despite any past sins. Nothing can inspire and sustain those without hope in prison more than a message of trusting in the Lord. That message can provide them with the sustenance they need to persevere in prison and once released from prison.
Accordingly, as an advocate of prison reform. (Paul Brakke, The-Costly U.S. Prison System, American Leadership Books, 2017) I ask you to please contribute to any faith-based programs that provide such sustenance to the incarcerated. They are crucial to any attempts to reduce our swollen prison population and keep them from re-offending. What is good enough for the Graham family to support should surely be good enough for the rest of us to support.