He ended by telling me to “Keep trusting in our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
On the envelope of that letter was a sticker that said, “Compliments of J.D. The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10”
I answered Jeff’s letter. I told him to read Romans 5:10. “And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of his Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his friends, and he is living within us!”
I encouraged Jeff to be positive in his fight against Satan and to rejoice in having Jesus Christ now living inside him. I was so happy. Jeff really seemed to be turning around. I hoped he finally realized the error of his ways and was sincerely sorry for the pain he caused.
Just a week later, in September 1992, I received another letter from Jeff. Again, he called me “Brother Calvin.” He spoke about being transferred from Cell 2 to the SMURF unit and said he spent most of his time reading and watching TV. He was excited about a new cable station, TNT.
He said he was still getting some mail, but much less than he had in the beginning, although the letters still came from all over the world. He mentioned Africa, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Wales, Canada, Spain, and England. He hadn’t answered many letters because he thought his handwriting was bad, but he guessed he might write back more if he got a typewriter. He told me his birth date, May 21, 1960, and ended by telling me to keep reading my Bible.
He included two photocopied pages from an article called, “How You Can Enjoy Superb Health,” with the letter. There was a list of food do’s and don’ts … pretty weird stuff.
In October 1992, Jeff moved to a private cell in Unit 6, west side, bottom floor, close to the officer’s booth. It was a better unit where he had more freedom to move. Even though he was on a more relaxed unit, he remained under heavy supervision as well as under continued observation by the unit psychiatrist and psychologist.
Around that time he took a different job. This position consisted of cleaning the dayroom and cleaning cells when inmates moved to another unit, another institution, or were released.
Word trickled back to Racine that television shows such as A Current Affair and Inside Edition sent Dahmer books and magazines.
Even after he moved into Unit 6, Jeff stayed to himself. He drank a lot of coffee, smoked cigarettes, and didn’t talk to many people. My friend, Mark, told me in a letter that people still sent Dahmer bags and bags of mail and gifts. Once he received so many Bibles that he donated fifty to the Columbia Correctional Chapel. Some people sent household items and cookware for him to autograph and send back. Of course he didn’t do this. In fact, Jeff had to return or give away most items.
One officer said Dahmer received lots of jewelry and clothing. He kept some of the clothing but sent most of it to charitable organizations.
About the only notable thing that happened in December 1992 was that Jeff’s grandmother died. I wondered if he ever felt badly about how his crimes affected his family. It must have been difficult for his family to live normally after the discovery of Jeff’s crimes.
In January 1993, an officer at Racine said Dahmer stopped reading most of his letters because he believed people were trying to take advantage of him. Jeff’s father took many of the letters back to Ohio when he came for his monthly visit.
Sometime during that same month, I made the mistake of telling Jeff in a letter that I wanted to write about him. He never corresponded with me again.
I didn’t give up on him, however, and continued to write him week after week the whole time I was at Racine. At that point, all I could do was hope he read my letters from the hundreds he received each week.
In general, I believed Jeff’s life got better the longer he spent in prison.
By spring of 1993, Jeff weighed somewhere between 210 and 225 pounds, had a beard, and wore his hair cut short. Too much eating and too little exercise had caught up with him. I also thought since he wanted to get out of his cell more, maybe he felt the need to disguise himself from the other prisoners. He probably didn’t want to listen to more threats or jokes.
By this time, Jeff was eating his meals with the other inmates in the cafeteria. He also attended recreation in the gym or library with the other inmates on Units 6 and 7. He, like all the other prisoners, could smoke in the dayroom during indoor recreation, outside during recreation, or in his cell. At that time, Jeff told some staff members that he still had too much time on his hands. He wanted to work more outside his cell. He said he needed a job with more hours and he’d heard that a position in the gym was available.
Jeff got the job and began work as a custodian, mopping, waxing, and buffing floors in the gym along with other general cleaning. He worked from 7:30 until 11 a.m. five days a week for seventeen cents an hour. After the first month, he would have been making twenty-eight cents an hour, with the possibility of earning up to thirty-three cents an hour.
Each day an officer escorted him to and from the gym. The officer would search him before leaving his cell and before returning to his cell.
Jeff participated in recreational activities such as weightlifting, basketball, and horseshoes. He started jogging around the half-mile track once a week, too.
During that year, Jeff had his own group of inmates whom he talked to or played cards with at times. He attended Wednesday evening Catholic religion services occasionally. I was happy to hear that he was still making the effort to learn and gain an understanding of God’s goodness. No one was forcing him attend those services; he was doing that all on his own.
Jeff bought a lot of junk food from the canteen. Generally, by the summer of 1993, he acted like any normal prisoner, although he was still a quiet man who stayed to himself.
Jeff’s mother, Joyce Flint, who was now living in Fresno, California, finally began to visit her son in the summer of 1993. Other than infrequent visits from his family and attorneys, we never heard that anyone else ever visited Jeff.
Despite his seemingly ordinary life on the inside, there still were some areas where Jeff dared not go. Whenever the institution had a big gathering such as a cookout, Jeff never attended.
One guy told me that Jeff learned to crochet in the hobby room and crocheted blankets and other things.
Whenever he had to sign anything, he’d just write “Jeff” and nothing more. He started painting pictures in the hobby room and even sold signed paintings. Hard to say what, if any, of this information was true because we heard it through the prison grapevine.
One correctional officer who worked at Columbia said Jeff was meeting expectations at the institution. It was a blanket statement, but probably not too far from the truth.
Twenty-Two
Unanswered Letters
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring the happy news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns. (Isaiah 52:7, TLB)
Whenever an inmate arrived at Racine from Columbia, I always asked about Jeff. Sometimes they’d tell us about the other inmates on Jeff’s unit who continued to threaten him. I felt sorry for him and wanted to encourage him to keep with Christ. One thing I knew was that Dahmer desperately needed God in his life. Although I was so glad to be out of Columbia and out of solitary confinement, sometimes I wished I could be there for Jeff: reading him scriptures, giving him someone to talk to, and teaching him about the ways of being a Christian.
I continued to write to Jeff and encouraged him with his religion and his Bible study. I knew he needed lots of support, so I sent him cards that I got from the chapel.
At various times I’d send Christian literature to help Jeff fend off an attack from Satan. A verse from Ephesians kept coming back to me. Paul wrote to the Ephesians to warn them, just as I wrote to Jeff to warn him.
As I said, Jeff never wrote to me again, but I sincerely hoped he read my letters. I wanted to help him and knew that if he opened his heart to God, his life would be better. I se
nt my letters anyway, always telling him about the word of God and offering support no matter how hard things got.
In one letter I said, “Jeff, in Ephesians, Chapter 6, verse 10, it says, ‘Last of all I want to remind you that your strength must come from the Lord’s mighty power within you. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand safe against all strategies and tricks of Satan.’”
Verse 13 says what I tried to say to Jeff in every letter I wrote: “So use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over, you will still be standing up.”
I also told him not to let the other inmates bother him. It was Satan testing him, trying to make him turn away from God. I reminded him about the Footprints in the Sand story, telling him that even in our most troubled times, the Lord is still with us. I also told him to think about better things and to try to find interests or hobbies to keep him occupied. It appeared Jeff was taking interest in new things. I knew it would help him and make him a better person. For me, when I started taking classes and learning new things, I truly felt happier, and regardless of my sentence, I felt optimistic toward life. I tried things I never thought I could do.
The next week I wrote another letter. I told Jeff that salvation meant deliverance. If God’s grace saved us, we would be delivered into heaven. It was as simple as that.
I explained that early in Jesus’ ministry, he visited the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. During the service, he stood up and quoted from a prophetic passage in the Old Testament, Isaiah. Jesus wanted the people in that synagogue to understand that he was the fulfillment of that prophecy.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the broken-hearted, to announce liberty to captives and to open the eyes of the blind. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of God’s favor to them has come, and the day of his wrath to their enemies. (Isaiah 61:1-2, TLB)
I wanted so much for Jeff to keep the hope in God no matter what. I knew that if that hope died within him, the power of Satan would rise again and he wouldn’t have the strength to continue his study of Christianity. Even in prison, Jeff had to keep his soul alive with hope, hope that eventually he would be reunited with God in heaven.
A couple of weeks later I wrote another letter.
Jeff,
If Jesus could unleash the poor from the chains of poverty, free the prisoners and deliver the blind from their infirmity, imagine what good things come to those of us who are also saved by the goodness of Jesus! When we say that we’ve been saved, we mean that we’ve been set free from the penalty of our sins. It’s true that the Bible says, “the wages of sin is death.” But Jesus’ death on the cross paid that price for each one of us. Brother Jeff, when we put our faith in Jesus, we are delivered from condemnation instantly and eternally. That is a salvation Satan can never take from us and it’s our greatest defense against his attacks.
Jeff, once we become Christians, there are still things from which we must be set free. We must be set free from affliction and Satan and his demons. Don’t you know that it was Satan who made you keep that razor blade in your cell? He is trying to debilitate you, brother. But just remember, God has given you salvation. You can trust him to set you free from other afflictions that Satan puts before you.
Another time, I told him about how God saved David. David, who wrote seventy-three of the Psalms, wrote many of them during personal times of tragedy. I asked Jeff to read Psalms 34:4, 6, and 18.
For I cried to him and he answered me! He freed me from all my fears. (Psalms 34:4, TLB)
This poor man cried to the Lord–and the Lord heard him and saved him out of his troubles. (Psalms 34:6, TLB)
The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. (Psalms 34:18, TLB)
In that same letter I told Jeff one more time that he should not be anxious about anything, that we simply have to let our requests be known to God and the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds. With that peace, we can overcome the circumstances of our lives. I reminded Jeff that Jesus Christ would strengthen him to live out his days in peace and contentment if he would just put his faith in the Lord.
I said, “Jeff, your circumstances, fears, troubles, broken-heartedness, illness … those things do not have to control you. You only need call on the Lord, have faith in his deliverance and you will be given the strength of Jesus himself.”
When I mailed that letter, I prayed that Jeff still had his faith in God and that he would receive my words in his heart with an open mind.
Another time I recalled Psalms 91:11-12. This was one of my favorite passages in the Bible because it offers such hope for a safe life on the outside.
For he orders his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will steady you with their hands to keep you from stumbling against the rocks on the trail. (TLB)
I knew that when I got out of prison that God’s angels would protect me and keep me from stumbling against the rocks of life. I just hoped that in prison, Jeff would find the same comfort.
These many ideas, feelings, scripture quotes, and beliefs about God and his son, Jesus Christ, which I shared with Jeff, came to me from many sources during the years since I had become a Christian. Various volunteers, chaplains, pastors, and Christian brothers all worked with me at different times and places. One thing they taught me was that I would never know enough about the goodness of the Lord. My quest to learn more about God and his goodness should never end.
In addition to trying to help Jeffrey find a sense of peace by committing his life and his soul to God, I was going through hard times of my own. Each time when I felt depressed about my life, I automatically picked up my Bible and started reading. Before long I started to feel better, hopeful. I learned that without hope, we can’t go on, but with the hope that God gives us so generously we can do anything, go anywhere.
One day I wrote a letter to Pastor Gene Dawson at the Columbia Correctional Institution. I discussed my faith and how I was trying to stay with God, to be positive. I also asked him how Jeff was doing. Pastor Dawson wrote back.
July 22, 1993
Dear Calvin Martin,
It was good to hear from you. I am pleased to hear you are remaining faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember, to grow in our spiritual life, it is very important that we 1) read the Holy Bible, study the Holy Bible (II Timothy 3:16-17); 2) pray daily (James 5:16, Psalms 34:15, Proverbs 15:29); 3) develop friendships with Christian brothers and sisters (Hebrews 10:25); 4) get involved in Christian service (II Thessalonians 3:13, Galatians 6:9, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Matthew 22:37).
In answering your questions about Mr. Jeffrey Dahmer, I can only say he has been very generous in donating many books to the Chapel, and seems to have it together. He has not been to Chapel for several months. It certainly is appropriate to remember him in your prayers, as well as the other men here at CCI that they too would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Lord and above all, their Savior.
Thanks for your letter. Perhaps I will see you sometime very soon as a free man.
Very Sincerely,
Gene Dawson
Chaplain CCI
I was grateful for that letter from the pastor. After I read it, I didn’t feel so alone. It felt good to receive some spiritual support. I was also glad to hear about Jeff, to know that for the most part he was doing OK.
As the days and weeks and months ticked by in Racine, I often thought about why God placed me, a new Christian, in the cell next to Jeffrey Dahmer’s. I knew that my excitement in finding the hope that Jesus gave helped me talk to that man whose soul I honestly believed Satan inhabited.
I believe it was God’s will and the work of the angels that I live near Jeff so my Christianity could rub off onto him. God gave me a special gift, the opportunity to share God’s goodness
with a sinner so confused by Satan that he became one of history’s worst criminals. I believed with all my heart that God wanted me to share with Jeff the message of hope that I had received just a few years before.
It’s a message I continue to share.
Twenty-Three
My Release from Prison
Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For the spirit indeed is willing, but how weak the body is! (Matthew 26:41, TLB)
June 8, 1994, is a day I’ll never forget. After serving four years and six months of my ten-year sentence, I was released early for good behavior from the Kettle Moraine Correctional Facility. It was a warm, sunny June day. The inmates and guards gave me a great deal of support. I’d been a model prisoner.
Before my release, staff members and inmates encouraged me to stay clean. They gave me the same advice over and over: Don’t follow the same pattern; do some volunteer work; learn some skills; be a good father and a law-abiding citizen; get a job; stay home; go to church; and if you do go someplace, tell someone where you’re going.
I told the prison officials that I’d be moving back in with my old girlfriend, Janice, the mother of one of my three children. I also said I believed I would find work quickly in Milwaukee because I’d lived there and had a number of contacts.
My actual release date was suppose to be in September 1996. I believed it was God’s intervention for me to be released two-and-a-half years early. I thought of Jeff. I was still sad for him, sad that he would live in prison for the rest of his life. I never stopped praying for him.
I left Kettle Moraine at 8 a.m. An officer took me and some other inmates to the bus stop where we boarded the bus to Milwaukee. The clothing I wore came from the Salvation Army–used clothing, but much better than the prison clothing I’d been wearing for more than four years. It reminded me of growing up, but this time I was grateful for those hand-me-down clothes.
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