If you had told street-wise New Bedford felon Ivan Fontanez five years ago that he would be singing in a choir this Christmas, he'd have laughed in your face.
At 29 years old, Fontanez has been sentenced to local jail, state penitentiary or federal prison eight times in his life – for everything from dealing drugs, to gun convictions, to assaults on cops.
Recently, however, Fontanez and 19 other Bristol County prisoners in the new choir performed publicly for the first time, after months of blending their voices together behind the walls at the Nelson Addiction Treatment Center.
'I found (God) in jail,' Fontanez said. 'When this chance came along -- to sing, and to praise him -- I jumped at it right away.'
Theirs is believed to be the first such choir in Massachusetts -- though prisons in Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Ohio and elsewhere have encouraged the programs in recent years.
Swansea minister Kevin Doyle, a former professional musician and himself a recovering addict, began working with inmates at the low-security pre-release alcohol and drug treatment center in New Bedford back in October.
Twelve women and eight men volunteered for the choir, and Sheriff's Department officials say many more have asked to join since the program took off.
The prisoners in the pews at a recent performance greeted the end of each song with spirited applause and more than a few heads followed the rhythms with steady bobbing.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Bernie Sullivan, who, with Mr. Doyle, came up with the idea for the choir, said the department intends on continuing the choir past the holidays.
The inmates housed at the Nelson Center are low-security prisoners, often in the latter stages of their sentences, receiving counseling and treatment for the addictions that contributed to their crimes.
Mr. Sullivan said the choir is the latest in a string of rehabilitative and enrichment programs in the county's jails that build inmate self-esteem, and often go overlooked in the glare of some of Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's other tough-on-crime policies, like his institution of chain gangs.