by Laura A. Brodin

When he graduated from Somerville High School in 1953, Reverend Harvey A. Thomas planned on going to college and eventually becoming a minister.

Along the way, he also wound up in prison.

Thomas, 70, became involved in the country’s prison system while working as a pastor in Pennsylvania in 1990. He was asked by a parishioner to visit her grandson—who was being held in the Washington County jail.

Thomas was reluctant to go. “It was the last place I wanted to be,” he said. And when he did visit the young man, he didn’t know what to say.

On his way out of that fateful trip, Thomas said, a prison guard stopped him and asked if he had a few extra minutes—another prisoner wanted to talk to a pastor. From that point on, he was part of the prison system.
And, after almost 15 years of being a prison minister, Thomas, retired and living in Hillsdale, Mich., makes the case that inmates are not bad people, but people who need to be helped, in his book The Key to Freedom from Captivity (Authorhouse, 2003).

“The main thing I want to show the public is a different view of prisons,” he said. Thomas said he doesn’t think of prisoners as strictly good or bad, but as people who have made mistakes.

Since that first visit in 1990, Thomas, volunteering his time, has gone to dozens of prisons, using the guards as his conduit to the prisoners. When he arrives at a jail, a guard directs him to the cells of those who want to talk to him, he said. He meets individually with the prisoners, most of whom are teenagers and people in their twenties, to offer them spiritual guidance and support. Although he never knows whom he is going to meet, there is always someone who wants to meet him.

Thomas said he recites appropriate scriptures and asks the prisoners to talk about their lives. He also encourages people he meets to use poetry and art as creative outlets. “These are young people who need guidance, direction, and need someone to listen,” he said.

Another aspect of his ministering, Thomas said, is providing prisoners with Bibles titled “Free on the Inside,” which are published by the International Bible Society specifically for prisoners. Initially paying for them out of his own pocket, Thomas uses the Bibles because they are written in easy-to-read and current language, which is helpful for people with little education or low reading skills, he said. They also include biblical answers to several questions that prisoners might have.

Some prisoners are less willing to speak to him than others. During one visit, Thomas said, a young man yelled at him, saying that he had no business talking to him.

“A few days later, though, he asked for a bible, and, a few days after that, he apologized.”

Thomas said he has found the prisoners to be very cooperative and eager to talk. Many still write to him, thanking him for his help and inspiration.

One prisoner, who is in jail serving a 60- to 90-year sentence, has come to think of Thomas as a parental figure, sending him letters and even Father’s Day cards, he said.

The idea to write The Key to Freedom from Captivity came to Thomas while he was rummaging through his briefcase one day. He looked at the collection of poetry, cards, and pictures given to him from prisoners throughout the years, and thought, “I have to do something with this stuff,” he said.

Thomas compiled actual testimony from the prisoners, based around four questions that he asks everyone he meets with: Who are you?; Who were you?; What is your future?; and, What have you learned? He also wrote about his background and experiences visiting the prisons.

Many of the pieces of art and poetry he has collected from prisoners over the years are featured in the book—even the cover art was designed by a prisoner.

Thomas said the book has received a positive response from inmates. “There are two copies in the library of the local prison, and they are both always out,” he said.

Thomas, born the fourth of ten children July 10, 1933, was the only one in his family to graduate from high school. Coming from such a large family, he said, he did not expect to be able to afford college. However, after graduating from Somerville High School, he went to Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., and Berkshire Christian College in Lenox, Mass. He became a licensed minister at the Union Square Baptist Church—also the church he attended with his family and later married in—and served on the committee that helped form the Somerville Community Baptist Church. He tries to come back once a year to visit family who still live in the city, he said.

Thomas said he’s noticed the changes in the city since his childhood. One of the main differences is the presence of public transportation in Davis Square. He also remembers when there used to be seven churches in Union Square. The Union Square Baptist Church has since been torn down, he said.

Thomas’ sister, Ivy Salvato, still a Somerville resident, said she admires her brother and his profession. “I’m just proud because not many people would go into that field, and he’s not afraid.”