provide a wide range of dental services for inmates in the St. Petersburg area, BosNewsLife established Saturday, June 11. In a statement obtained by BosNewsLife News Center the head of ACCR’s prison ministry department, Yan Volkov, said his organization had been given a van "house on wheels," equipped with dental and X-ray rooms.
"We dedicated a whole year for prayer, planning, preparations – and here is the long expected beginning," since receiving the van, Volkov said.
"WELL EQUIPPED"
"The rooms are well equipped, and we are able to do all dental help except prosthesis. Our doctor is a Christian, (and) our driver is an evangelist, who will be preaching the Gospel there. The patients will be able to watch Christian TV programs and enjoy the process of treatment."
ACCS officials said the van is scheduled to service as many as 16 prisons and jails.
The involvement of the church group in prisons was expected to be welcomed by the United States and human rights groups who have expressed concern about treatment of prisoners in Russia.
US OFFICIALS
In its recent Country Reports on Human Rights Practices the US State Department said "prisoners’ rights groups, as well as other human rights groups, documented numerous cases in which law enforcement and correctional officials beat and otherwise abused detainees and suspects."
It said that "human rights groups described the practice of such abuse as widespread." The State Department stressed that "numerous press reports indicated that the police frequently beat persons with little or no provocation or used excessive force to subdue detainees," in 2004.
Church leaders suggest their involvement in supporting inmates will also change the atmosphere in prisons. "We believe and pray that this ministry will glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and that many of the convicts seeing care and love will turn to their Heavenly Father," Volkov said. The ACCR said those interested in its work can receive more information via e-mail at accr@accr.ru (Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance investigative journalist and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico’s largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction. He has a master’s degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in intercultural education at Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at reynalds@joyjunction.org.)
