“I am originally from London and a former prisoner myself. After 4 years in one of the most notorious prisons in the world, “Lurigancho” in Lima, Peru, I felt compelled to share the Word of God with others, with anyone I encountered. I didn’t just want to go back home to England. Although I don’t have any missionary or theological training, nor whatever support from a church or mission society in a rich country, like from Europe or the USA, I decided to follow Jesus, because He called me, He touched my heart! He spoke to me, Hallelujah!
Please remember that I am a missionary. Who ever heard of a black missionary, with little culture, who speaks English with a Cockney accent, and who has a clearly defined mission? Praise the Lord! I am a man who seeks to fulfill all the desire of God and because of that, His grace and mercy is abundant. I don’t have much education, but the Lord has been my best teacher, He has also used other people who taught me, and He has used me to teach them. The LORD will not let me fall nor leave me alone, because He is my shepherd and I lack nothing.
I grew up south London (Elephant & Castle) and joined a street gang that became the most well-known and dangerous, involved in all kinds of crimes, from illegal gambling to extortion. When all gang members were finally arrested, I was the only one who wasn’t convicted, because I convinced the jury to be innocent by twisting the story, I must admit. I was a hardened criminal.
One week after the trial was over, I was back on the streets again. I formed another gang, but I felt that something was missing from my life. I dreamt about going to another country and decided to bring in drugs from South America.
I flew to Peru and when I was about to leave again, I was arrested with a significant amount of cocaine in my suitcase at the airport. The next 4 years I spent in two prisons in Lima, first in the city prison of “El Sexto”. It was a very old building in the city center, just 2 blocks from the famous “Sheraton Hotel”, which we could see from the window on the top floor of the prison coffee shop, where all 
the foreigners were housed for their own security. The cell block itself was overcrowded with almost 800 inmates, dominated by 2 gangs, one from Lima and the other from Callao, the port city, always fighting each other, even to death. The violence was indescribable.
It was there where I met Ron in October of 1982 for a couple of weeks, as he was transferred later on to the other prison some 15 kms outside of town, called “Lurigancho”. In March of 1984 there was a riot and prisoners took guards, civil staff, and famous inmates as hostages. When they started to cut their throats in front of the TV cameras, the police stormed the prison and killed 22 people, including 2 of the hostages, plus injuring dozens more. I saw all that with my own eyes. After this I was transferred forcibly to Lurigancho, as El Sexto was to be permanently closed and then demolished by the government.
(El Sexto prison riot in 1984)
Ray Miller’s testimony, “Early days with Gary”:
“My elder brother met with Gary’s sister in England in the fall of 1982 and she told him that her brother was in jail in Lima, Brazil. My clever brother said no, it is Lima, Peru, he knew for sure because his own brother (Ray) was working there as a missionary! So, a few days later we received a call from her, in the early hours of the morning, pleading that I please go to visit Gary in “El Sexto” prison. Hence, the following Sunday I went to the prison, did my queue and started asking around for Gary. It was all a bit of a shock even though I had visited English prisons. My intention was to go and see him, but not necessarily ever return!!
Anyway, I eventually found him in a cell shared with I think 3 other guys who were listening to sports on a TV. We chatted for a bit and I explained that his sister had called and that I was an evangelical missionary. His mum was also going to church in London and was a friend of friends actually! Gary had some Christian influence from Sunday school, I believe. I talked to him about the meaning of salvation, and he accepted straight away that he was guilty (the only prisoner in Peru who ever accepted that on first meeting – such an innocent bunch!). He and I talked about having a personal faith and we ended up praying together. I was skeptical that anything real had happened but agreed to come back the next Sunday.
The next week he was shining, and it seemed he may well have received Jesus. After a few visits he asked for communion, and we only had some orange juice and a piece of cake. We were again surrounded by guys watching TV and listening to music, but it was soooo special. We started to pray and I have rarely sensed the power and presence of God so strong. Time seemed to stand still and I finally broke the cake and we drank the juice and found I was almost over time!! Not long after he introduced me to some of the other guys and to Ron.
One Sunday, a guy who was pretty high, threatened me with a sharp can-opener. I literally picked him up and threw him against the wall of the passageway and went to Gary’s cell. Turned out the guy was someone important and all the Brits surrounded me and protected me to the place to get out!! I was in the UK when the riot happened and when I came back you were all in Lurigancho which seemed a better place to be honest.”
***
Gary goes on:
“In El Sexto I was in a little windowless cell on top of the coffee shop with 16 people in inhuman conditions, until Ray Miller gave me a Bible and I realized I wasn’t alone in this situation. I read it and then gave my life to Jesus Christ in El Sexto prison, to follow Him forever. Later, when I was in Lurigancho prison, I continued reading my Bible and I felt the calling to go back into the prisons and to minister to the inmates once I got out, but I didn’t really think I was equipped for that and perhaps it was just a figment of my imagination? One day in December of 1985, Ron, who had left the prison already in October, unexpectedly turned up and delivered a letter to me, which said that I was to be released on parole on the 31st of December! I was very happy about those news and while we spoke for several hours in my cell, Ron shared that he had only come to visit because there was a sermon about Matthew 25 in church that morning, with the verses “I was in prison and you visited me” (v. 36) and also “I was in prison and you did not visit me” (v. 43), and “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (Jesus)” (v. 40). That excited me even more, as it confirmed my vision to start a mission to prisoners, especially to the foreigners who had nobody to visit them.”
Comments by Ron:
“On the 1st of December 1985, after being out for 2 months and getting comfortable at the international ‘”Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd” in the prosperous Lima suburb of San Isidro, a lady asked me prior to the service whether I could visit Lurigancho prison and deliver a letter to an English inmate, since she knew I had been in there myself. Without even looking at the letter I immediately declined and told her that I would never visit any prison ever again, and much less this one, and left her there standing, all perplexed! I was very upset that someone would ask me to go back to this prison voluntarily. However, the Gospel passage and sermon for the day was about Matthew 25:31-46, and while I had read that passage many times before, this time God spoke to me loud and clearly to go and visit the prison today! The service was barely over when I caught up with the lady and told her that I had changed my mind about delivering the letter. She happily gave it to me, and it was for Gary Harris. We had known each other since the beginning of my imprisonment, but had not talked so much while in prison, mainly because it had taken me over 2 years just to understand his strong ‘Cockney’ accent, ha-ha, but now I jumped into a taxi and rushed off to Lurigancho. On the way there, however, I thought what a totally crazy idea this was, going back to the same old dreadful place I had only left such a short time before and never wanted to see again, not even from afar!? Once inside I was greeted by so many guys that I could hardly move on, I finally managed to visit my old cellmate first and then went over to Gary’s cell, who didn’t expect me of course. His first word was to shout his famous “Oi!” at me. He made a cup of tea, and we started talking about Jesus, the church and what I had already learned on the outside, we read many Bible verses, particularly about the Great Commission and ministry to the poor and needy, even foreign prisoners. It was he who really had the vision to start a mission to them. I was still skeptical, but during the 3 hours we spent in his cell, we seemed to be in heaven, in the presence of Jesus. It became clear that this was not a crazy idea or a chance visit, but God’s plan for us. We talked and prayed for so long that I almost missed getting out, the visit time had already ended, and the door of the cell block was about to be locked. I had to run to the gate as the last visitor for that day, but I’ll never forget it.”
(Lurigancho prison visitors leaving the main gate)
Gary continues:
“When I got out, I went to stay with Ray Miller and his family in their house in Chorillos, a southern suburb of Lima. I wanted to become a missionary and felt that I should learn as much as possible from anyone I met, particularly people involved in missions, churches and any other Christian activities.
The Lord spoke to me, saying, “Put your hand into my hand and I will show you the way!”
I attended church services at the Good Shepherd Anglican church and became friends with pastor John Corrie and with Al Shannon, a director of the Wycliffe Bible Translators/Summer Institute of Linguistics in Lima and the president of the church council. They, together with Al’s friend Stu, also a director of Wycliffe, decided to disciple myself and Ron. We had Bible studies several times a week and learned a whole lot from those very wise and experienced teachers. It was such a blessing.
Then we started FPF with a committee where Ray also became a member of and Al was president, also the pastors of the Good Shepherd and the Lima International Union church; this was the first time in history those two churches were doing something together! The GS church gave us a room on its premises which we could use as an office, fully equipped and even with a telephone.”
(At the FPF office c/o Good Shepherd Church in Lima)
“We went back to the prison every single week, sometimes even twice, went to the courts, to the embassies, we contacted families and helped people to get out by pushing their legal paperwork. I always challenged church people to get involved in this ministry as volunteers. Many people don’t like prisoners, they remember things they have seen in movies, of depraved people with no feelings and no regard for human life and believe all of them are like that. They are surprised when they hear that me and Ron have been in prison, especially in Peruvian prisons. Most are afraid for their lives to go in there to visit, but whenever anyone expressed interest, often I just grabbed them by the arm after church and whisked them away into a taxi and before they realized what was going on, they were on their way to a prison visit that day! I admit, it wasn’t the best recruiting method, but it worked, and no one ever got into any danger at all 😊.”
“Foreign prisoners are deeply despised for the crimes they have committed, which in most cases are drug offenses, they feel rejected and neglected, like all prisoners. But being alone in a strange country, not understanding the language and no one to turn to is a very bad experience and soon they give up all hope. There are no constructive activities to occupy them, they are surrounded by violence and many of them turn to drugs to escape reality. They are always seeking something special for their lives and never find what they are looking for; they are too busy dreaming about life to really begin anything, but they are conscious of their spiritual need. I believe this is why the Lord is using FPF to minister to these people, helping them to put their lives on the right track. Jesus meets them in their own hell, he leads them to repentance and forgives all their sins and begins the process to rebuild people’s lives and eventually to serve Jesus Christ by helping others, just as in our case.”
We had never planned to do this ministry for so long, our idea was just to organize a volunteer group to carry on the visits and then leave the country immediately. So we told the inmates every week we were leaving now, but they pleaded with us to come back just one more time… and this went on and on and before we knew, almost 2 years had passed!
We also visited orphanages and took foreign ex-prisoners with us, which was a great blessing to both them and the kids. Both groups got along with each other very well!
Then “Halley’s Comet” was passing over Peru and we organized a trip with church friends and tourists to the countryside to see it. In the end, we never really saw the comet, or at least we imagined we did, but everyone had such a good time, no one would ever forget!
“Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner… ♪♫”
One day though, we felt it was time to leave and see our families again, but we wanted to leave the mission in good hands and have it continued by someone. Ray connected us with his mission society and through them, John Roberts, a missionary from Northern Ireland would eventually come and take over.
Gary and Ray, Ron, together with mission directors from RBMU (today: Latin Link) during a visit in Lima.
Even though the Peruvian legal system did not provide a solution for foreign ex-prisoners to leave the country, Ron and I left Peru on a small “Cessna” airplane from the jungle town of Pucallpa over the border to Brazil and then we traveled on by plane across the country to Rio de Janeiro.
Arrival by small airplane from Pucallpa, Peru in Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil 1987
Finally in Rio de Janeiro March 1987