March 19, 2024

Caged flock

Pastor of Women at the Well practices faith behind bars

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MITCHELLVILLE — Beyond the 4.5 meter high chain-link perimeter fencing, and behind the concrete walls of the Iowa Correctional Institution in Mitchellville, Pastor Lee Schott stands enveloped by a group of women wearing navy blue scrubs, their hands outstretched. The Prairie City native is leading the “pray out” of inmates who are leaving at the end of the week.

For nearly four years, Schott has been the pastor of Women at the Well — a church congregation inside the state women’s prison. It was founded in 2007, by the United Methodist Church of Iowa. It is one of two United Methodist prison congregations, and — according to church leaders — one of 19 prison congregations in the U.S.

Many faiths and churches have visiting ministries or prison chaplains, but what makes Women of the Well unique is its designation as a sanctioned church within the correction facility.

Pastor Schott did not start her adult life in ministry. Coincidentally, she began her professional career as a lawyer, practicing bankruptcy and corporate law. Then around the age of 40, Schott said she found herself on a different trajectory with faith. She attended seminary, and in 2003, left her first practice. She and her husband Dan began serving a Methodist church in Polk City.

“I never in a million years thought I would be serving in a prison,” she said, “When I was in seminary one semester they hired someone to teach prison ministry. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s nice.’”

Her road to WAW began with a series of conversations with church leaders. The church’s first pastor invited Schott to be part of the WAW leadership group. The prison pastor asked Schott if she could see herself serving the correctional congregation. At that time, she had been serving in Polk City for several years and said she could feel herself being called elsewhere. But her initial reaction was “no.”

“I knew God was calling me to it, but I didn’t know I was going to love it until I got started,” she said.

Schott took the position in 2011, and after her parents both died in 2012, returned to her childhood farmhouse outside Prairie City to be closer to WAW.

When Schott received her placement, the pastor worried that she would find it difficult to show sympathy to the congregation because of their criminal background and arguably questionable life choices. But Schott immediately opened a dialogue and found a difficult truth. Most of the WAW members are victims of circumstance.

“Somebody said once, women in prison are victims before they are perpetrators,” Schott said. “Which I think is pretty much true. And that has been born out of the conversations I’ve had with them. When they come in to tell their stories, they’ve been through things I can’t even imagine living through.”

Schott said that 90 percent of the women housed in the Mitchellville prison facility are victims of abuse. As she discussed the lives of her congregation at the farmhouse in which her grandmother was raised, Schott said the familial instability that many offenders she serves have experienced becomes apparent.

“It’s not ‘how could you do this terrible thing you did,’ it’s ‘I don’t know how you’re still standing,’” she said.

Although she’s gained more of an understanding of those within her ministry, Schott did experience apprehension going into WAW, concerned the congregation would not take her seriously. The pastor admittedly had little “street cred,” she said and was worried about communicating to the group.

“God is really good at bridging that gap,” she said. “And what I get to do is love them and help them hear that God loves them. That’s a surprise to a lot of people.”

Schott said this is visible in the story of “K.” The pastor uses initials when referring to her congregation members in the Women at the Well UMC Facebook page promoting the church’s efforts. K came to Mitchellville within the last two years from a very abusive relationship. Schott described the inmates a simple person and quiet. Although WAW has helped K with a transformation, Schott said being in an environment away from the violence has been just as influential.

“We’re part of her story,” Schott said. “I’ve just seen her unfurl. She’s part of our leadership group. She’s part of choir. Over the last couple of months, she’s started singing solos. If you would have asked me when she first arrived if I though she would be singing solos, I would have said ‘no way.’”

The church is booked for worship visits months in advance of the service. Volunteers in the faith community are encouraged to attend. Services are held Thursday nights, so Schott is able to travel and speak to other transitional congregations throughout Iowa on Sundays about WAW.

But within the prison walls, Schott said she gets to share compassion with people who have never before heard the words “God loves you.”

“That’s really important because a lot of these women don’t have visits. The idea that these strangers would come and worship with them and visit with them is really meaningful and it’s a connection to the wider community,” Schott said.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com.