Franklin Graham Goes to Prison After 'Celebration'

Evangelist Franklin Graham and team will hold a special one-day Crusade event today inside the largest maximum-security prison in the United States.

Coming out of the “Franklin and Billy Graham Celebration of Hope” that drew more than 30,000 people to the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans just weeks earlier, Graham will be speaking in front of thousands of inmates along with the general public for the first time. From the more than 5,000 prisoners housed in the Angola Prison in Angola, La., the one-day Angola Festival is expected to draw some 3,000, reported the Angola arena spokesperson.

According to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, where Graham serves as President and CEO, Angola Prison was once considered one of the country's "bloodiest" prisons – and 3,500 of its 5,108 inmates are serving life sentences. It is also the only institution in the state of Louisiana classified as a maximum security prison. But over the past 10 years, under the direction of warden Burl Cain, it has been transformed into one of the most non-violent prison facilities in the nation.

Cain, a devout Christian, wrote, "The chance to witness the power of God's love and grace to change lives from the inside out is priceless.”

“The Angola Festival will show what is truly possible even in a place – and in human hearts – widely thought to be beyond hope and redemption,” the warden stated, according to the BGEA. “We have been praying for a great movement of God."

The Angola Festival will feature a message by Graham as well as music by award-winning artists including Charlie Daniels, Lynda Randle, Dennis Agajanian, and the Tommy Coomes Band.

The event also culminates an end-of-the-month effort by volunteers from dozens of Louisiana churches inmates at in-prison events at Angola organized by Operation Starting Line – a partnership of volunteers from Baton Rouge-area churches and 30 national faith-based organizations. Since Thursday, Operation Starting Line has been in Angola to launch a faith-based prison program designed to reduce recidivism rates.

“High-energy” yard events featured former NFL linebacker Dave Washington; ex-offenders Don Grier and Terry Hamilton; musicians Larry Howard and Leslie Kent; and the child of former inmate and founder of Forgiven Ministry, Scottie Barnes.

Christian Post Reporter Lillian Kwon in New York contributed to this story.