Policies and Procedures
To become an approved member of a Worship Team, please read the list below and submit a signed electronic copy by typing answers in the boxes at the bottom and then click the “Submit” button. If it is successful, you will receive a “Thank you” message. We will proceed with processing your credentials after receiving all four of the required Worship Team Member documents and obtaining approval from your Worship Team's leader.
Please complete the form below
To enter the secure areas of a jail facility, a Worship Team member must be at least 21 years of age. No one may enter a secure area of a jail facility if he/she has been incarcerated anywhere within the previous 12 months.
All Worship Team (WT) members must complete and sign the Request for Security Clearance form. This gives permission for a background check to be conducted by the Sheriff's office. The Sheriff's office will review all applications and determine a person's viability to participate in the Worship Team Ministry.
Each Worship Team will receive at least one identification badge. This badge is the property of the corresponding county's Sheriff's office and may be revoked at any time by either the Sheriff or TJM. A complete set of paperwork must be submitted to TJM, and the background check approved, for Worship Team badges to be renewed. Each WT will create a list of "approved team members" and that list is maintained on the Sheriff's intranet. There must be at least one badged member present with each WT to ensure access. A picture ID will be required to verify your identity.
Worship Teams may consist of any number of people. However, the number of team members who can enter a jail facility for worship is limited. [For example, 4 team members may be on a unit at River City Correctional Facility; five members on any unit at the Hamilton County Justice Center.]
No one may go to a unit where a family member is incarcerated. If someone goes to a unit and discovers that a family member is housed there, he/she must leave immediately. ["Family member" includes extended relatives: cousins, aunts, uncles, step relatives, etc.]
Member of a Worship Team must be at their assigned location no later than 15 minutes prior to the scheduled worship time. Teams that are late may be refused entrance. Teams should be leaving the unit one hour after the scheduled worship time.
All team members must be courteous at all times. There are times when Corrections Personnel may ask the team to do something without explanation. Worship Teams must comply with all directions set forth by Corrections Personnel. TJM’s Board, staff, nor volunteers have the authority to override an order of any Corrections Staff.
Worship Teams should take as little as possible into a jail facility. Purses and bags should be left in the trunk of the car. Nothing can be transported in or out for an incarcerated individual.
Acceptable items - Boom boxes (no detachable speakers); acoustic guitars (no cases); song sheets as long as they are on single sheets of paper. Bibles may be taken into the facility for your use only and then must be taken back out with you.
Unacceptable items -- cameras, cell phones, or other electronics (i.e., Tablets, MP3 players, etc.), weapons (including pocketknives & penknives), and staples, paperclips, rubber bands etc.
Worship Teams may not make phone calls on behalf of any incarcerated individual.
All members of a Worship Team must adhere to the dress code. A general guideline is: modest, conservative business attire or business casual clothing. Any clothing that could be interpreted, as gang identification should be avoided. Good hygiene is expected. More specifically:
No shorts of any type;
Dresses, shirts or blouses may not be sleeveless, midriff bearing or tight fitting;
Pants/shirts must be free of holes;
No exposed cleavage;
No jeans of any color;
No baseball hats, scarves, hair wraps or Du Rags.
It is the Worship Team Leader's responsibility to notify Transforming Jail Ministries if they will be unable to provide worship on an assigned day.
Worship Team Leaders are responsible for confirming their scheduled location on TJM’s website; due to the nature of our work, we reserve the right to change the schedule at any time. Thus, it is a good idea to confirm your team’s location one day prior.
Worship Teams must review and update their rosters once each year, as requested.
Each Worship Team Member is required to attend no fewer than four Sundays per year.
Worship Teams are required to have a minimum of two team members present to be eligible to enter each facility.
Federal law prohibits the disclosure of the identity of any person held in a jail/treatment facility. Any Chaplain or Worship Team member who discloses the identity of any inmate in a jail/treatment facility in which that individual serves through TJM to anyone outside of the facility without the inmate's written consent shall be immediately terminated as a Chaplain/Worship Team member and shall in addition be personally liable for any and all penalties, fines, or damages which may result from such disclosure.
A Worship Team or individual member may be denied access to the jail facilities temporarily or permanently at the discretion of the Sheriff, Corrections personnel or Transforming Jail Ministries.
By my name and date I indicate that I have read, and agree to comply with, all of the policies and procedures of the Worship Team ministry.