When Death Row Becomes Life Row

This is the story of Lance Shockley, the servant-prisoner on death row who everyone is talking about,
by a resident of Potosi Correctional Center.

There is an ongoing debate around “change.” Do people change? Can they? Is it possible for an individual, even the worst of society, to become something new? If you asked a growing number of men at Potosi Correctional Center (PCC), they would enthusiastically respond to those questions with a resounding “Yes!” These are prisoners charged with murder, violence, sexual offenses, and drug possessions; each eager to share personal testimony about how their interaction with one man has changed their lives forever. For them, addictions and aggressions alike have all been abandoned. Why? Because the transformative power of Jesus flooded their lives through simply spending time with Lance Shockley.

As a ten-year resident of Potosi Correctional Center, I can personally attest to the fact that God is at work here through Lance. The change in these men isn’t just visible, it’s measurable. You can see it. I picture a flooded house, when the water recedes it leaves behind a line revealing a measurable history of the water’s impact. In the same way, you can essentially see where Lance (the water line) has been. His impact on the lives within his proximity is an almost tangible experience. Transformation is in the atmosphere around him. It is proof that the kingdom of God is growing here. Luke quotes Jesus in his Gospel as saying, “If I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). This same Jesus is at work through Lance to bring His kingdom upon the lives of men at PCC. In a very real way, evil is being pushed out and the kingdom of God is rushing in.

Lance spends most days serving the men around him. As a close personal friend, I can tell you that one of his greatest joys is discipling men as Jesus did, from their first days at PCC to their last. When new prisoners arrive, they typically have nothing. Lance will coordinate with other Christians to supply them with the basic necessities like a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and shoes. When the recycled shoes are old and torn, he uses a sewing kit to repair and restore them. Many times, these men come to him high on drugs or steeped in drug debts. Yet Lance, embracing them with the love of Jesus, consistently looks them in the eyes and greets them with a smile.

Lance has volunteered for years to care for the prison’s hospice patients. Most recently, a man in his eighties was placed on hospice following multiple amputations and heart surgeries. Every recreation period, Lance would wheel him outside and work with him to keep him moving, giving him the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air in his final days on earth. Inevitably, these patients become too ill to leave their beds, and in those final moments, Lance has been right by their side to pray for them and comfort them.

It may sound unreal, but it doesn’t stop there. I once witnessed Lance save a choking man’s life in the chow hall. He has rushed to perform CPR on men who have had heart attacks or overdosed on drugs on multiple occasions. Every week, I watch as he personally escorts the prison’s Special Needs Offenders to church services. Lance helped establish an annual Global Leadership Conference to train men to become better leaders in their environment, both in and after prison. He holds Bible studies on the recreation yard, preaches sermons and homilies at various services, and sits on the board for various organizations.

“Kairos On the Inside” is an incredible 4-day life-changing retreat held each spring and fall at the prison, where Christian men from the outside come in and radically display the love of Jesus towards the men here. At the most recent retreat in April, individual prisoners were given the opportunity to speak about how the retreat affected their lives in front of a crowd of former Kairos graduates and family members of the retreat volunteers. Many stood up in front of the crowd and through tears praised God and thanked Lance, who typically (and not surprisingly) volunteers at the event.

“If it wasn’t for you, I would still be addicted and chasing drugs.”
“Lance Shockley met me the first day I arrived and signed me up for church services. That’s when everything changed.”
“I have never met someone who loved me so unconditionally, and that’s Lance. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. Thank you.”

This man is likely the most effective rehabilitative tool at work within the walls of Potosi Correctional Center. Men can’t help but want to follow Lance. It’s the strangest thing. More men are leaving behind their old lives through their interactions with Lance than any program or class offered here. That’s not to say that programs at the prison are ineffective. It just means that the transformative power of Jesus is at work through this man in unprecedented ways. Unfortunately, Lance’s impact is about to come to an end.

Lance is currently on Missouri’s death row and is slated to be executed on October 14th of this year. As Catholics, we understand that all people, born or unborn, have a right to life because they were created in God’s image and have a God-given purpose in our world. It’s obvious to me and everyone who has met Lance that he is undoubtedly fulfilling God’s idea for his life, albeit confined to prison. His right to life is confirmed by Pope Francis’ words in his third encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, which states, “The firm rejection of the death penalty shows to what extent it is possible to recognize the inalienable dignity of every human being and to accept that he or she has a place in this universe.”

This is a core belief for us as followers of Jesus, who was also on death row and experienced a horrific death. In 1999 John Paul II called the death penalty “cruel and unusual.” In a 2011 Apostolic Exhortation, Benedict XVI called on state leaders around the world “to make every effort to eliminate the death penalty and to reform the penal system.” He later added, “I express my hope that your deliberations will encourage the political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty and to continue the substantive progress made in conforming penal law both to the human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order.”

During a 2015 United Nations campaign against the death penalty, then Archbishop (now Cardinal) Silvano Tomasi publicly stated, “The Holy See Delegation fully supports the efforts to abolish the use of the death penalty.” The Catechism explains that capital punishment is archaic and that there are more modern forms of detention that both protect society and give offenders an opportunity for redemption. It adds “Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person’, and the Catholic Church works with determination for its abolition worldwide.” In Lance’s position especially, to echo Pope Francis, “there can be no stepping back from this position.”

Despite Lance’s predicament, he has been especially hard at work for God. Many of the men who have been impacted by Lance’s influence never even knew he was on death row. This is true for many, if not all, of the men sentenced to capital punishment. It is especially true for Lance. He has turned “death row” into “life row” by bringing a renewed sense of purpose to the men around him. They were dead in their downfalls, but Lance lifted them up in the Lord and showed them the way to everlasting life. Lance could spend his days depressed and defeated, but instead he lives his life to the fullest with the intention of bringing hope to the hopeless.