‘If Colson can repent of his sins, there has to be hope for us all’

He was described as the “evil genius” of the Nixon administration, and spent the better part of a year in prison for a Watergate-related conviction.

His proclamations following his release that he was a new man, redeemed by his religious faith, were met with more than scepticism by those angered at the abuses he had perpetrated as one of Nixon’s hatchet men.

But Charles “Chuck” Colson spent the next 35 years steadfast in his efforts to evangelise to a part of society scorned just as he was. He became known perhaps just as much for his efforts to minister to prison inmates as for his infamy with Watergate.