Inmate Ministries

TJM has three avenues for inmate ministry: chaplaincy, worship services, and clergy contact visits. We serve multiple corrections and treatment facilities in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. If you are interested in serving inmates in the region, please read more about how you can get involved below.

Adult Jail Chaplaincy

Adult Jail Chaplains meet inmates where they are: in jail. Inmates have a multitude of spiritual needs and our chaplains meet their requests, pouring dozens of hours into the lives of inmates each week. Our chaplains represent numerous Christian traditions and denominations, churches, and mosques. Chaplains are available for prayer, spiritual counsel, grief intervention, and death notifications. In addition to ministering to inmates, chaplains are able to provide Bibles, books, eyeglasses, and greeting cards in order to supplement local church ministries in local jails. If you are interested in becoming a chaplain, please visit our AJC info page.

Worship Team Ministries

More than 80 churches are currently represented by our worship team volunteers. Worship teams visit inmates on Sunday mornings for prayer, singing, and teaching (Saturdays at noon for Muslim services; Sunday afternoons for Roman Catholic services). Though there’s not a church in jail, the services very much reflect what one might expect if he or she attended the church where our volunteers attend. This is an excellent ministry for discipling your church members to become leaders while simultaneously ministering to inmates. If you are interested in starting a worship team with your church, please visit our Worship Team Ministries page.

Clergy Contact Visiting

If you are a deacon, elder or pastor in a local church, or the leader of a local parachurch ministry needing access to a Hamilton Co. facility to minister to an inmate, you will need to go through our Clergy Contact Visiting orientation for contact visits. We have more than 100 clergy members from multiple Christian and other faith backgrounds already trained and credentialed to minister to inmates. Clergy contact visits were started many years ago at the Hamilton County Justice Center in order to increase the diversity of religious services available for inmates in Cincinnati. This program does not guarantee clergy access to hospitals, nursing homes, retirement homes, Cincinnati’s juvenile facility, or facilities outside of Hamilton County, though some may recognize the credential. If you would like more information on obtaining clergy credentials in Hamilton County, please visit our Clergy Contact Visiting page.

Cookies at Christmas

We collect and distribute thousands of homemade cookies each year to inmates and corrections staff in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. This effort is only possible because of the hundreds of people willing to bake and pack freshly baked cookies each December. If you would like to help bring a little bit of joy and love to inmates at Christmas, please visit our Cookies at Christmas page for more information.