- Each robbery that we did,that we didn't get caught,

there was a sense of invincibility.

- [Narrator] All his life,

Lowell Ivy needed to be in control,

at 19 he thought he found itwhen he joined a gang in LA,

who went on a crime spree

robbing restaurants andhotels from LA to Texas.

- There was a sense ofpower over another person

when we were doing these robberies,

there was a sense of being in control.

I'd done drugs before, but thiswas kind of a natural high.

- [Narrator] A month later in Texas,

Lowell was caught andarrested, he sat in a jail cell

confronted with his own powerlessness.

- I can remember just feeling a sense

of utter aloneness and despair.

Also thinking what have I done?

My life is over.

- [Narrator] This wasn't thefirst time he felt alone.

When Lowell was three, he was abandoned

in a motel room by a single mom.

Then after being passedaround family members

for a few years

he was adopted by his grandfather'sniece and her husband.

- I kept them at arms distance,

I wouldn't receive that love.

There was a lot of anger in my heart

and perhaps a lot ofinsecurity and mistrust,

always wondering, isthis relationship real?

Is this love that's beingshown to me is it real?

- [Narrator] Rebellion, drugs and alcohol

would define Lowell's teenage years

much of which followed him into the army,

when he joined in 1992,right after high school.

- I wanted to just get on with my life.

I wanted to get out of the home,

to get out from under theauthority of my parents

and I wanted to be on my own.

- [Narrator] Two years later,he was arrested for stealing

and using another soldiers ID,

facing military prison Lowell went AWOL,

which is when he hookedup with the LA gang

that led him on a crime spree

and a 17 year prison sentencefor multiple armed robberies.

- I was pretty upset that I got caught,

Of course I was blaming the guys

that I was doing robberies with them.

I was blaming them, Iwas blaming my parents.

I was waiting of everybodyexcept for myself

- [Narrator] In prison,

He joined a white supremacist gang.

At first, it was forprotection, then it became more,

filling his need for control, power

and giving him an outlet for his rage.

- Every time the doorsopened up, there were riots.

There were fights, therewere people getting stabbed.

There was certainly an opportunity for me

to focus my anger on others.

- [Narrator] Yet, it wasonly a matter of time

before he embraced the ideologyof hatred and dominance.

- I began to read those things,

I began to embrace that way of thinking.

And eventually it becamemy whole identity.

The way that I thought about everything.

- [Narrator] A few years later,

Lowell attacked another inmate

and was put in solitary confinement

that would last the remaining14 years of his sentence.

Lowell's, illusion of control was over.

- It got me really thinking deeply

for the first time probably,

about the fact that I was in prison,

and I was in solitary confinementbecause of my choices.

- [Narrator] Even then,

as several people came to talk to him

about God's love through Jesus,

he wanted nothing to do with it.

- I was really trying to, again,

push that love that wasbeing shown to me away

with my anger and my hatred.

- [Narrator] The timein solitary gave Lowell

plenty of time to rethink his beliefs

and hatred towardothers, himself, and God.

Then after three years in isolation

he came across a Christian radio program.

- That was powerful to me to know

that God knew everything about me,

He knew all of my sins.

I was beginning to see that God is real.

That God is love, that Godis a God who is forgiving

and merciful and gracious.

But I also was confronted with my own sin

and especially the evil of racism.

By hating those whom Godhas made in his own image,

I'm hating God himself.

And in that moment,

the only way I can describe what happened

is that the Lord changed my heart.

He changed my heart, hetook away the racism.

He took away the anger and Ifell on my knees in my cell

crying out to him and pleading with him

to make me a new person.

- [Narrator] Lowellrepented of his crimes,

renounced his ties to thewhite supremacist gang

and started reading theBible every chance he got.

- I felt a sense ofoverwhelming peace and joy

because I knew thatthough I was in prison,

I was free.

- [Narrator] After 10 years in solitary,

Lowell was paroled in June of 2009.

He enrolled in Bible college,

desiring to share God'slove to hurting people.

Today, Lowell's happily marriedwith five beautiful children

still sharing about thelife-changing power of God's love.

- Jesus is the one who sets people free.

He powerfully changes hearts

that are raging and rebelling against Him.

He is able to turnthose hearts to himself.