Breaking Crime's Vicious Cycle

Sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole, Don Dennis was a man without hope. Chuck Colson described the inmate Don Dennis this way: "He was a tough, hard con who gave his heart to the Lord and has been just as tough every since—but now as a warrior for Christ."

In 1977 Don Dennis stood at attention before a judge in a Seattle, Washington, courtroom. "Mr. Dennis," the judge began, "you have been in and out of prison for more than twenty years. After reviewing your history of felonies, escapes, forgeries, and other crimes against society, I am sentencing you to life in prison. That was Don Dennis, the habitual criminal. Then, he looked at life this way: "It was me and my prison buddies at war against the police, guards, society. We were like blood brothers." Don was more comfortable behind prison walls than in free society. Each time he went back into prison, it was like "going home." That's where his friends were; that's where people understood him, or so he thought.

More than twenty years later that Don Dennis was no more. He was a man with a different kind of mission. Rather than tearing down, he was building up by helping prisoners and ex-prisoners find a new way of looking at life.

This is the story of how Don Dennis broke crime’s vicious cycle. It is nothing short of a miracle.