Detainee Support
Bearing witness to Christ's presence in detainment.
Through prayer, presence, and generosity — alongside immigrant brothers held in Plymouth, MA.
Give Write a letterOur direct impact · December 2025 – July 2026
Soap, toothpaste, shampoo, clothing and food — shared across the detainee church.
Personal letters of encouragement, plus Spanish and English Bibles to sustain faith inside.
Emergency help for families in crisis and support for brothers re-entering the community.
Two ways to step in
Your gift funds commissary essentials, family benevolence, letters and books, pastoral visits, and re-entry support.
Please write “Detainee” in the memo field.
DonateA letter tells a man held in Plymouth that he is seen, remembered, and prayed for. You don't need the perfect words: thirty minutes, a page, and a stamp.
Click below for what to write and where to send it.
Letter-writing instructions
A Sudden Crisis & Holy Ground
This ministry began when our church leader and preacher, Raúl, was detained during a routine check-in. As our congregation mobilized with meals, legal support, and prayer, Raúl began pastoring inside — preaching to men losing hope and praying with them. Behind walls built for separation, we discovered a profound, vibrant hunger for God.
After Raúl's release, our ministry didn't end; it expanded. Today, our pastor regularly visits church leaders in detention, we sit in online court hearings to bear witness that a neighbor's life matters, we send contextualized sermons for their nightly worship gatherings, we provide financial support for basic needs.
“Hope, when it comes, feels like a gulp of air after being underwater too long.”
Praying over the family of a brother returning home.
What we are learning
Detention centers are places designed to isolate, yet walking alongside these brothers has made our theology more alive, drawing us more deeply into the heart of the Gospel.
God inhabits “forgotten” spaces
God is not distant; He precisely inhabits the places the world prefers to overlook. When we move toward the sick, the stranger, and the imprisoned, we do not “bring Christ” — we discover Him already present, waiting to meet us in and through them (Matthew 25:35–40).
Light persists in deep darkness
Stripped of comfort, status, and freedom, men with every reason to yield to despair are gathering nightly to worship, intercede, and carry one another's burdens. They are a radiant manifestation of the Beatitudes in real time, demonstrating that where spiritual poverty is at its rawest, the Kingdom of Heaven is most tangibly near (John 1:5; Matthew 5:3–10).
Proximity can transform us
Comfort and distance subtly blind us to the needs of our neighbors. Stepping into another's suffering with open hands strips away our self-sufficiency and brings us face-to-face with Jesus. True worship cannot exist in looking away; it is forged through active, costly mercy — untying the knots of injustice, sharing what we have, and walking humbly in the shadow of the cross (Isaiah 58:6–9; Micah 6:8).
Who we support
Immigrant men held at the detention facility in Plymouth, MA, who gather nightly inside the walls to worship, pray, and study Scripture. Many are husbands, fathers, and primary breadwinners navigating complex legal processes.
Through personal relationships with church leaders inside, our care flows directly to that worshipping community.
What our support looks like
- Commissary
- Funds for soap, shampoo, t-shirts and food staples, shared inside as needs arise.
- Pastoral
- Regular visits to detained church leaders and written sermons read at evening worship.
- Scripture
- Bibles and Christian books in Spanish and English.
- Letters
- Personal notes reminding these brothers they are loved and not forgotten.
- Prayer
- Standing with them on the specific needs they send us.
Go deeper
The
original GoFundMe ↗
Preserved as a record of
how this began.
Christianity
Today: The Pastor Detained at Plymouth Jail ↗
Our church's story, told
nationally.
Bearing
Witness: a pastor's perspective on detention ↗
Written during Raúl's
detainment.
Sermon:
Mighty God (Isaiah 40)
Preached by Raúl after his
release.
Interview:
Immigration & Holy Imagination ↗
The AND Campaign, with
our pastor.
For churches & families
Guide:
what to do when a congregant is detained ↗
PDF · UniteBoston
Iglesia
que Acompaña al Migrante ↗
Panel with our pastor ·
Centro Latino at Fuller Seminary · in Spanish