M.I.S.T.R. program helps inmates find purpose as former inmate returns as a voice of hope

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Inside one of the prisons/jails, there are stories of mistakes, but also stories of change.

Clay Anders was once in one of the county jails — even if it wasn’t for long.

“You know how good of a feeling it is to walk in here in street clothes and not have to worry about like… staying here?” Anders said.

He said the time he spent was enough to change the way he saw his life and who he wanted to become.

“The moment that changed me was a guard named Ms. Ukoma who continued to tell me about Christ, and one day I had to sit in a cell within the infirmary with the person who killed one of my closest friends,” Anders said.

Now, he walks back through these doors with a different purpose — not as an inmate, but as a mentor.

“Don’t let anyone try to make you feel less than because you’re putting your effort into this, bro.” Anders said to the class.

He’s part of a program called M.I.S.T.R., which encourages men to talk about faith, responsibility, family and the future they still want for themselves.

And Channel 8 sat down with a graduate of this program.

“What made me join it was that it was a great opportunity to not just do time, but to actually get something out of my time in jail,” said Ian Keady, a graduate from the M.I.S.T.R. program and current inmate at the county jail.

Channel 8 asked Anders how his faith rebuilt his life after incarceration.

He paused and started to tear up.

“In the Bible it says, ‘He came preaching the good news,’ bro… if you don’t know — then you don’t know. That’s why you be like, ‘he crying?’ No, bro, you just don’t know the good news.” Anders said tearfully.

He sat across from the men as he shared his story and listened to theirs.

“I know I am a repeat offender, so it might seem like I’m not trying in life, but I’ve been through enough to know that this isn’t what I want for my life, and it would be great for others to know that,” Keady said.

Inside the facility where doors lock and time moves slowly, Anders said something else is growing: hope and the courage to change.

“My faith is everything, man, if you know me, you know.”