Stories of Impact
Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them.
– Hebrews 13:3
Message from the Chair
A Decade of Gratitude
This is an exciting time for the Calvin Prison Initiative program. This year, we celebrate a decade of God’s faithfulness. While it can sometimes feel like we just started, the long list of milestones we’ve hit leaves me in awe thinking all of this was accomplished in just 10 years.
In this impact report, you’ll see a timeline highlighting some of those milestones. As you reflect on these significant moments, please know that each of you has played a role in bringing those to fruition.
I’m reminded as I reflect on these moments, whether it be a small group making a visit to Angola prison, a professor teaching the first class at Handlon, or the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) saying “yes” (which was no small feat) to us offering a bachelor’s degree behind bars, that each one of those significant moments was possible because of someone’s single step of obedience. Through many small steps of obedience, we are together shaping hearts and minds.
In the pages ahead, we celebrate CPI’s significant mile marker moments and share about what’s on the horizon in the months and years ahead. But as we embark on this next chapter, this next decade in CPI’s history, we felt it fitting to spend less time looking at the numbers and more time looking at the men who no longer are defined by their MDOC numbers, men who through God’s faithfulness and the formative education they’ve received through the Calvin Prison Initiative program have been transformed from agents of destruction to agents of renewal.
As you read these powerful stories of transformation, please know how grateful I am for your continued partnership in living out Hebrews 13:3 to “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them.”
With gratitude,
Sid Jansma Jr., Chair of the CPI Foundation Board
Restoring Identity, Building Community
From struggling to survive to helping others thrive
In July 2010, Ken Coatsworth and James Hammett committed home invasions and serious assaults. While unrelated incidents, they were sentenced to the same fate—20 to 40 years behind bars.
Coatsworth and Hammett would enter prison at the same time and would spend time in county jail in the same cell.
“Prison is a warehouse of grief … there’s this loneliness that consumes your heart and you live and wallow in this grief and misery. It becomes the way you see everything,” said Hammett. “When I came to jail, I longed to have someone to express these things to, and that started with Ken.”
JOURNEYING A LONG, HARD ROAD
As Coatsworth and Hammett began to find community with one another, they were sent to two different facilities and were on two completely different paths. Hammett had submitted his life to God in county jail, while Coatsworth was about to embark on a decade-long downward spiral.
After spending six months in a pit for using and selling drugs and having his visits stripped away for a year, Coatsworth had seemingly hit rock bottom.
Then, on February 16, 2016, he turned on his TV, flipped through the channels, and the TV got
stuck on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network). “My channels wouldn’t change, up or down wasn’t working anymore, volume buttons didn’t work either,” said Coatsworth.
Admittedly angry at the time, Coatsworth reluctantly listened, heard about the love of God, which he said “calmed my spirit, and it was the strangest thing I had ever experienced in my life because I had never felt complete rage, hate, and anger [turn] to a peace.”
He handed his life over to Christ on that day. And his journey inside prison walls began to change.
UNEXPECTEDLY REUNITED
Fast forward to 2020. A decade after Coatsworth and Hammett had spent time in a small cell in county jail together, the two would be reunited.
“When I first saw that they posted the names of the new students in the sixth cohort of the Calvin Prison Initiative program and his was on it, I was blown away,” said Hammett.
It’s because Hammett, a member of CPI’s fourth cohort, had been remembering Coatsworth in his prayers every night since they parted ways.
“I would always go to the Lord in prayer for Ken,” said Hammett, asking that “God would bless him and help him figure out his walk.”
DISCOVERING COMMUNITY
The two would be part of the Calvin Prison Initiative community for a few years and started to more fully live into their true identity.
“Community doesn’t talk down, doesn’t let you know what other people think of you, it lets you know what you can be. They see it in you,” said Coatsworth.
“The humanity Calvin poured into me has given me inspiration to help other people who I would consider the least of these,” said Hammett. “Jesus had a heart for what he considered the least of these, helping those marginalized and outcasts in society. Calvin has given me keys to the future.”
PAYING IT FORWARD
Now, as graduates of the CPI program, the two are continuing to be agents of renewal where they are currently planted and are committed to doing so wherever God leads them next.
“Men here are hopeless, don’t have a vision, and are constantly being talked down to. I want to help other men know they are worth something and can play an integral role in their family,” said Coatsworth, who intends on being a chaplain to prisoners after his release. “I would have never thought about coming back into prison to work, I’ve spent a majority of my life here already, but I want to come back as a chaplain and to hopefully do that through CPI. Who does that? Christians do.”
Because Jesus did. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’”
– Matthew 25:35-36
Set Free Behind Bars
From selfish to selfless living
ENTERING PRISON
Shawn England was a self-described narcissist.
“I was the only one that mattered, I thought of everything in relation to myself,” said England, who in 1991 was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder.
“There was nothing to intervene to allow me to escape that violent world that was my life. It’s what I understood. I walked around on two legs, but I did nothing of worth.”
England spent the early years of prison living for himself and persecuting Christians.
THE TURNING POINT
About two decades into his sentence, he was transferred to a facility in Coldwater. There, he met a guy named Matt who treated him differently than anyone had before. The two developed a friendship and one day England asked Matt a question.
“I asked him ‘how do you live like this (with joy) in light of all that’s happened to you?’” said England.
Matt’s answer would change England’s life.
“I had my dark night of the soul for 42 years,” said England. “November 4, 2014. My life started from that day.”
England, who had been persecuting Christ followers for years, underwent a Saul to Paullike conversion.
“I realized very early, partly revelation, partly Matt’s tutelage, that God uses his servants and if I want to be God’s servant and use the gifts God gave me, I needed to find a way to do that.”
And then England saw a flyer for a new program coming to Handlon Correctional Facility.
ENTER CPI
England now wanted to use the gifts God had given him inside prison. And, in 2015, he was given a prime opportunity to get equipped for the work ahead. He was accepted into the first cohort of the Calvin Prison Initiative.
“Christ dug the well, but Calvin is helping me deepen and shore up the well. A moral education is what’s necessary to shore that up.”
England graduated with his bachelor’s degree in 2020 as part of the first cohort of the CPI
Dive deeper into Shawn’s incredible Saul-to-Paul-like conversion behind bars.
program. Alongside his studies, he’s spent the past few years tutoring his peers, as a teaching assistant, designing and facilitating classes for inmates who are going home with the goal of helping them internalize the need for a moral compass, leading Bible studies, and delivering sermons.
“Some people get into this program to get out, they feel like this is going to be their ticket. But a large percentage in this program get into it because they think they have a better chance of positively affecting people’s lives. That’s what I’ve tried to do through this program, what I’m trying to do now. My purpose isn’t to get out of prison, at least not physically, it is to live a more flourishing life,” said England.
TODAY
This fall, England will be released and is eagerly anticipating starting a degree at Calvin Seminary in the near future.
Christ dug the well, but Calvin is helping me deepen and shore up the well. A moral education is what’s necessary to shore that up. – Shawn England
Blazing a New Path for Returning Citizens
Earning a Degree, Gaining a Sense of Purpose
ENTERING PRISON
In 2002, Rob Woods was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for conspiracy to commit murder.
“When you sentence an 18-year-old kid who is already troubled, to life, what is the reason for him to try and do better? So, what I did was try to learn the prison politics and try to figure out a way that I could survive … and that was by sticking my chest out, because a lot of times if other inmates know you’ll stick up for yourself they won’t mess with you.”
It was every man for himself—the same mentality that got Woods into prison in the first place. And it was a mentality that led him down a destructive path, leading to spending time in segregation.
“I lost my life because as far as I knew I wasn’t coming home,” said Woods.
THE TURNING POINT
But Woods’ mentality shifted when he realized the decisions that were putting him in segregation were disappointing his family who weren’t able to see or call him during that time.
ENTERING CPI
Woods started working in the trades at Handlon Correctional Facility when another opportunity emerged: The Calvin Prison Initiative.
“I thought what better way to make my family proud than to get a bachelor’s degree,” said Woods.
He soon discovered he’d earn much more than a degree.
“First year, I had Professor Heys, and he put his hand on my shoulder, and I flinched. I’m like, ‘hey, what are you doing, we are going to get in trouble,’” recalls Woods, who said he reacted that way because he wasn’t used to being treated like a human being. “If you get treated like you are nothing long enough I guarantee you will start to believe it. Our interactions with the staff and CPI professors broke us from that mind frame and that was important in the transformation process.”
To date, 18 students have been paroled with all employed or contributing in positive ways to their communities. Not one person has reoffended.
National stats from the U.S. Department of Justice show that 43% of prisoners released from state prison reoffend within a year.
A FRESH START
And so his individual transformation began, and throughout the next few years he started to see that transformation take hold within his community.
“I went into the card room and there were lots of CPI students studying, but then they also had the young trades guys with them and they were tutoring them. So, it went from walking into a card room and seeing people playing dominoes, poker, and gambling, to a somewhat quiet space with people studying and focusing on what they were going to do post-incarceration,” said Woods. “Calvin is big on lifting the next guy up and giving you a sense of purpose.”
LEAVING PRISON
In 2022, Woods graduated from the Calvin Prison Initiative program. A few months later, he was paroled. He’s now gainfully employed as a CNC programmer for Koops Automation Systems back in his hometown. He’s hoping the path he’s blazing for returning citizens will soon become a common road.
“My story isn’t unique to what led me to prison,” said Woods. “Unfortunately, what’s unique about my story is my success after prison. I’m hoping that we can change that at some point.”
A Decade of Mile Markers
In 2010, Calvin Theological Seminary and MDOC leaders visited Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angola), the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. For years, Angola was known as one of the bloodiest prisons in America until a local seminary was granted permission to teach classes within the prison walls. In 2011, John Rottman, professor of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary, taught the first non-accredited class at Handlon Correctional Facility. This is where seeds for CPI were planted.
In 2013, then MDOC director Dan Heyns asks Calvin Theological Seminary to develop an accredited Bachelor of Arts degree for Handlon to be a model for the rest of the state. Those initial steps of obedience would ultimately lead to the creation of the Calvin Prison Initiative program.
The Calvin Prison Initiative program is established as a partnership between Calvin University, Calvin Theological Seminary, and the Michigan Department of Corrections. The first cohort of 20 men begin to pursue bachelor’s degrees at Handlon Correctional Facility.
Eric Boldiszar, a student in the first cohort, creates and facilitates a restorative justice conference from behind bars that receives recognition from the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice. The conference inspires faculty from Hope College and Western Theological Seminary to also start a program, which launched in 2021.
CPI partners with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) to build a new school building that houses a food-tech program, classrooms, and an office for CPI. The building, a first for MDOC, has state-of-the-art features and is designed to look like an old red schoolhouse with a 100-year-old bell.
The first cohort in the CPI program completes the requirements for their bachelor’s degrees.
CPI is awarded a $1 million grant to develop best practices for Michigan colleges and universities starting and growing higher education programs in prisons.
The classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022 receive associate and bachelor’s degrees in a grand celebration held on the property of Handlon Correctional Facility.
Calvin hosts first-ever Higher Education in Prison conference (with another scheduled for Spring 2025) and officially launches the Michigan Consortium for Higher Education in Prison.
CPI prepares teams of 5-10 graduates to transfer to other prisons and provide leadership for academic, peer mentoring, and ministry programs. The original vision of the program is now a reality.
Building a Partnership That Lasts
A decade ago, Calvin Theological Seminary, Calvin University, and the Michigan Department of Corrections started something new. Pastors, professors, and prison officials all got on the same path and agreed on a shared destination. The journey hasn’t always been linear. There have been ebbs and flows. But, ten years in, one thing is clear … the partnership is stronger, the outcomes are much richer, and the future is far brighter than anyone could have imagined.
And it all started with a “yes” from all three partners.
Heidi Washington (director of the Michigan Department of Corrections), Jul Medenblik, (president of Calvin Theological Seminary), and Greg Elzinga (interim president of Calvin University) talk about the past, present, and future of this partnership.
Why did you initially agree to enter into this partnership?
Heidi: I knew when I became director that I wanted to focus on education and skills training for incarcerated individuals, because I believed then and now that education is the key to success … Providing these opportunities, I think, is one of the keys to unlocking a successful future for them when they get out of prison.
Jul: With our educational mission we are serving the church that serves the mission of God. There are people who requested that we help behind prison doors, and so we then knew we needed to respond. Step by step God has showed up and God has gone before us.
Greg: Because we believe in the power of Christian higher education and we have a 149-year history of how that’s been done in ways that prepare grads to live, work, and serve however and wherever God calls them to be his agents of renewal.
What are some of the challenges you’ve had to navigate over the years?
Heidi: We both have our boundaries and our limits. We have to respect those, but still challenge ourselves to think about how we can do things differently without compromising safety and security. Sometimes we have to push back on things, but altogether we’ve made a ton of progress towards our mutual goal.
Jul: Each party comes with not only their own perspective, but also their own needs. Those running the prison remind us well that their first concern is the security and safety of all involved. There are adjustments that happen not only daily, weekly, but also yearly that help us continue to serve well together in this.
Greg: In many ways it was a step of faith for each organization to say we’re willing to engage in this partnership not fully knowing what the outcome was going to be. Faith, trust, and transparency has grown and deepened over time. It’s important we always recognize this is a partnership and that none of this could have been achieved without each partner bringing to the table what they are uniquely equipped to do.
Now ten years in, how would you assess the partnership?
Heidi: I think it has been a win-win. I think a win certainly for the men who have had the chance to participate in it. It’s been transformative for them. It’s also set the bar for other institutions who have now gotten on board and partnered with us.
I’m proud that Michigan is the leader in this nation [when it comes to prison education] and Calvin was one of the first, certainly the first in the manner in which they did it, fully funding it when Pell wasn’t available. The program we have built together has been a model for others. We’ve been able to work through all the kinks, bumps, and hurdles and make the road forward a lot smoother for people who now want to come and do this work.
Jul: If failure is an orphan, success has many parents. And the success of the program is related to the many people stepping up to do what they could … We’ve moved from hesitancy to knowledge of each other to openness that continues with a feedback loop that when there is a concern, it is raised, processed, and we can work together toward a result. Any good partnership is founded on good clarity, communication, and feedback.
With Pell expanding and more schools in Michigan getting involved, why is a shared partnership and vision so critical?
Greg: I think the stakes are even higher as you look to scale something. Scaling it involves more people and more organizations and there’s no shortage of people and orgs that are going to want to get involved and change it in ways that may not always be helpful. So, we need to remain focused on what we believe works and how it works and stay true to that.
Heidi: We need each other. None of this happens without partnership. And to me it’s always been about providing high-quality education. I do
not want to ever become a place that says we offer education, but it’s some virtual thing where the students aren’t engaging in real-time and developing relationships. Continuing to recruit partners from all corners of our state to come in and do this work is critically important because we have a lot of people to reach.
What do you now see as possible because of the first ten years of this partnership?
Heidi: I hope we all see that we no longer look at prisons as a place where we just lock people up and throw away the key. They can be places of hope and redemption and rehabilitation. We now have people in our prison system on a regular basis who came to prison without a high school diploma or GED ... and now they have high school diplomas, associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, and they are taking their education further. And now their kids are going to school because of what they did.
One of the things I like about what Calvin has done is they are educating the community outside prison about what is possible when you make these types of investments.
One of the most inspiring things about this program is to see the transformation. There are so many positive things that are coming out of this that I think we need to help people understand so that they can see things through a different lens.
Moving Toward a Shared Vision
The initial chapter of the Calvin Prison Initiative (CPI) program was filled with both excitement and challenges as partners from different spaces with distinct missions were learning how best to work together to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
“We are two separate cultures coming together and finding a way. We are mindful we are entering space operated by the Department of Corrections. We are grateful to be their guests, grateful for many years of partnership, and we look forward to continuing that.”
– Lisa Spoelhof Schra, executive director of the Calvin Prison Initiative program
NEW CHAPTER, NEW LEADER
Schra, who started her new role in July, has the privilege of leading CPI into its next chapter. While the foundation for the program was being poured over the past decade, she was serving as director of development for a local nonprofit, honing skills that leaders say are essential for the program’s future flourishing.
“Lisa has demonstrated the ability to build and support well-functioning teams,” said Kevin den Dulk, associate provost at Calvin University. “With the growth of the CPI program and the emerging expansion of prison education across the state, having her skill set in leading our growing team sets us up well to continue to lead the state of Michigan forward in seeking renewal behind bars.”
A SEASONED TEAM
This year, seven staff members will support the CPI program as their primary role.
“I’m very pleased to lead a team that is doing great work and poised well to continue it,” said Schra. “We have a lot of experience on our team with running this program, but also unusually so with one of our team members who has experienced incarceration and is a graduate of the Calvin Prison Initiative program,” said Schra. “Both experiences help us navigate partnerships well as we seek to continue to bring Calvin’s mission into Handlon.”
With the help of a strong and seasoned team of Calvin and MDOC staff, Schra will seek to
continue to keep the main thing, the main thing—offering the best, in-person, Christ-centered higher education behind bars. But she’s also excited for her team, which has developed what the U.S. Secretary of Education calls “a national model for prison education,” to be seen as trusted partners in moving toward a shared vision of reforming prisons across the state.
EXPANDED INFLUENCE
“A decade ago, we had the benefit of donor funding, which allowed us to get started on prison education significantly earlier than other colleges who were considering it,” said Schra. “Now, with last year’s reinstatement of the Second Chance Pell grant, more and more colleges and universities are able to start their prison education programs.
Through the consortium, CPI is helping other programs navigate education behind bars. In fact, Kary Bosma, who was instrumental in helping develop Calvin’s program over the past several years, recently transitioned into a role with Hope’s prison education program, which was modeled after CPI.
“She knows how their program should go. She knows the end run now, so she can step in and there’s no learning curve,” said Todd Cioffi, senior advisor for CPI. “We learned by making mistakes, and now they don’t have to.”
And former CPI staff members aren’t the only ones transferring to other facilities to expand prison reform efforts.
A SHARED VISION
“Our graduates are now ready to serve in whatever community they find themselves in too,” said Schra. “Some have paroled, some are busy serving already at Handlon, and some will soon be sent out to other facilities.”
All are supporting a shared vision.
“Imagine if everyone who was at a correctional facility was a learner. It’s an exciting time, there’s so much work to do, there’s so much farther that we can go. We acknowledge we can’t do it alone. Investing in this today is going to save us tomorrow.”
– Heidi Washington, director of MDOC
LILLY COOPER
PHYLLIS MOES
TODD CIOFFI
CHRISTINA HAVEN
NICK NICHOLS
LISA SCHRA
An Investment Worth Making
Sue Jandernoa is a lifelong educator.
“I’ve experienced the whole range of what education can do for individuals,” said Jandernoa.
While she spent 30 years of her career formally doing this work as a middle and upper elementary school teacher, it’s what she’s doing in “retirement” that’s arguably making the biggest impact.
SEEING A NEED
When Jandernoa retired in the early 2000s, she volunteered with the early childhood initiative in Kent County.
“Of course my background wasn’t in early childhood,” said Jandernoa, “but I could see and understand those who didn’t get a good start in school and how it reverberated throughout their school years.”
For years as an educator, Jandernoa felt the weight that a student’s early childhood life experience, home experience, and neighborhood experience had on their future success in school. And in life.
It’s what inspired Jandernoa and her husband Mike to take a step of faith in 2015 when approached by two people they knew well, first by Gary Clark, a high school teacher who was ministering and visiting prisoners at Handlon Correctional Facility, and then by Sid Jansma Jr., who shared the vision for the Calvin Prison Initiative.
HEARING THEIR HEARTS
The idea piqued their interest. But a visit to Handlon gripped their hearts.
“I visited the prison, and I see young men who are just voraciously eating up everything that’s given to them by the Calvin Prison Initiative,” said Jandernoa. “They can’t get enough of it.”
It was a full circle moment for her.
“I feel like these are young men who didn’t have the opportunities in school,” said Jandernoa. “Young man after young man in the program says to you, ‘this is the first time anyone ever cared about me, first time anyone cared about what I know, what I have to offer, and what I think about things.’ For me, that was transformative, because as an educator it breaks your heart that these men never felt heard, never felt seen, never felt loved or appreciated in the way that they needed.”
REALIZING THE VALUE
The Jandernoas were sold. They joined as one of the initial funders of the CPI program and Sue currently serves on the CPI Foundation. Mike and Sue are seeing in story after story of transformation that the investment they continue to make into the men in this program is paying off in ways beyond their imagination.
“My faith makes me never lose hope for anyone. I feel like there’s redemption all around us and part of our mission is to aid when we can,” said Jandernoa. “It’s such a blessing that Mike and I are in the position to be able to support programs like this that not only mean a lot to us, but are also going to affect a lot of people.”
Program Impact
From 2020-2022, an evaluation to measure CPI’s impact was conducted. The evaluation included surveys and interviews with key stakeholders.
150 stakeholders, including faculty and instructors, CPI students, CPI graduates, MTU and MDOC staff, Calvin University staff, and others, responded to a survey about student achievement, student opportunities after graduation, opinions about program expansion, and effects on the prison and prison culture.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral or Disagree
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
“CPI adequately helps students...”
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES AFTER GRADUATION
“CPI adequately equips students to...”
PROGRAM EXPANSION
“CPI adequately helps students...”
POSITIVE IMPACTS ON STUDENTS + PRISON CULTURE
RESTORED SENSE OF HUMANITY
SENSE OF COMMUNITY COMMUNICATION + FLEXIBILITY
TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT
PARTICIPANT TESTIMONIES
CPI, in my view, has always been God’s idea and God’s work.
The Calvin community reminded us that we are God’s image bearers despite our past failures.
May we always seek to magnify other people’s value and worth, because it may just be that acknowledgment that drastically changes a person’s life, as it so has for me.
JOHN ROTTMAN, CPI INSTRUCTOR
SHAWN DAVIS, CLASS OF 2024
JAMES HAMMETT, CLASS OF 2023
THE IMPACT OF A GIFT TO CPI
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
$50 School supplies for one student for one year
$5,000 School supplies for 100 students for one year
TEXTBOOKS
$150 Textbooks for one student for one semester
$15,000 Textbooks for 100 students for one semester LAPTOPS
$800 Laptop for one student
$20,000 Laptops for first-year cohort (25 students)
LIBRARY ACCESS
$300 Hekman Library access for one cohort of students for one course
$12,000 Hekman Library access for all CPI students for one year
FACULTY & STAFF
$6,000 Professor travel to Handlon Correctional Facility for one semester
$9,000 Staff travel to Handlon Correctional Facility for one year
FULL SUPPORT FOR ONE STUDENT
$10,000 One student’s education for one year
CPI FOUNDATION
The CPI Foundation works to effect change in three significant areas. First, the foundation helps create and sustain a broad base of CPI supporters. Second, the foundation communicates with broad audiences about the importance of higher education in prison. Third, the foundation promotes the sharing of best practices with other organizations that are involved in higher education in prison.
THE CPI FOUNDATION BOARD
Sidney J. Jansma, Jr., Chair
Lisa Spoelhof Schra*
Todd Cioffi*
Heather Garretson
Mark Huizenga
Sue Jandernoa
Annaleyza Kinoti
Jul Medenblik
Liza Nedd
Mary Vander Goot
Jason Zylstra
SUPPORT STAFF
Robert Knoor, CPI Foundation Director of Development
Laura Palsrok, Assistant to the Director of Development
*Denotes ex officio members
