A program of Prison Fellowship, the world’s largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families, Angel Tree reaches out at Christmas and throughout the year to children who have a parent in prison.

Chris Cleveland’s 30-year journey with drugs began when he smoked his first joint at age 12, the year his parents divorced. By 16, Cleveland was expelled from high school.

“My formal education stopped there,” said Cleveland, but his addictions took off. A self-described “highly functioning addict,” he held down a series of jobs as a bounty hunter, bail bondsman and corrections officer while abusing drugs.

After Cleveland’s mother died of cancer, he “shook his fist at God” and descended into a four-year cycle of drug abuse and arrests, blowing through his sizable inheritance, his salary and the profits from frequent thefts.

By then Cleveland was married and had a young son named Christopher. Though arrested dozens of times, Cleveland used connections and manipulation to evade prosecution, until his actions finally caught up with him in 2002. Facing 69 felony charges, he left behind his 8-year-old son and entered the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Living in 23-hour lockdown, Cleveland said that he spoke to his son only about once a year — until Angel Tree reconnected them.

“Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree gave me a way to connect with my son when nothing else was working..”

Read More: http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Dec10/Art_Dec10_16.html